Home Sweet Home
by JJBluebell
Summary: Lucky's father decided to move them back to Riverdale but coming home scratches at the memories she's buried so deep, the nightmare she was never meant to remember. Her world is turned upside down and her friends are being numbered. Who can you trust, when you don't even trust yourself? FPxOC sorry I suck at Summaries
1. Chapter 1

Home.

Home is where the heart is that's what they say right?

For Lucky home had been skyscrapers and fast cars.

Apparently her and her dad had different ideas about that because one day he had come back to their cramped Chicago apartment from a long day at work and simply announced "we're moving back home…"

The night had turned into a screaming match with slamming doors and harsh words. It took three weeks to pack up their entire lives and then that was that. Three weeks wasn't long enough for Lucky, she had so much to do, her friends, her boyfriend… so naturally she was extremely pissed off about the whole situation.

So when they where stood outside a house that looked like every single other picture perfect house on the street except for the fact it was blue she wanted to scream.

"HEY!" She snapped, eyes squinting against the bright sun, as quick fingers ripped her sunglasses from her gloomy face and pulled a ear bud out so she could actually hear their voice.

Her dad is right there with a tight clenched jaw, the crisp grey-blue eyes he'd passed on to her looking firmly annoyed "Lucky, I know you're not happy about this but for the love of god stop with the moping for two seconds and help us."

She fixes him with a pointed glare. He's about to complain further until a flaxen haired woman in far too much pink calls for him from the porch "Wayne, Honey, come on I want to get this done so we can head to the store!"

He nods over to his wife with a smile before sighing "Fine, at least take your own things inside. You remember your way around right?"

The answer was no but he didn't stick around to hear it. And he'd taken her sunglasses. Damn it.

"Come on Luck, it's not so bad. New town, new people to isolate yourself from, you'll be fine." A toned muscular arm tried to round her shoulders, making Lucky cringed back and shoved the blonde boy away "don't fucking touch me!"

Adam laughed as she finally decided to help out just to avoid him.

Walking into the house was strange, like walking through a hazy memory. Lucky was six when they'd moved, not long after her mother died but Wayne hadn't the heart to actually sell the house. She barely remembered living there, barely remembered her own mother in all honesty. If it wasn't for the pictures of chestnut curls and plump rosy cheeks on porcelain skin that had been mirrored Lucky she would think her dad made Rose up just to appease her.

Out of some random room Sarah and her too bright smile appeared "Lucky, there you are. Have you seen your brother?"

"Your devil-spawn is still outside."

"Oh you…" she laughs with a shake of her head before running off to find her son.

Sarah and Wayne got married three years ago, and Lucky was happy for them, really she was. Lucky had always liked Sarah; her annoying brat son was another situation though.

Without much warning her feet stopped moving, the box in her hands seemed heavier and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. She'd just stopped walking to stare at a wall with some ugly painting of a dog on it. Something about that bright creamy wall just didn't set right in her head, so much so a sharp shiver ran down her spine,

"Lucky…" her dads echoing voice pulled her from her trance "You ok honey?"

"Peachy, kind of lost." She shrugged it off; it was an old house after all.

"Right down this hall, to the left." Her dad smiled, thankful she was somewhat speaking to him now because the drive up had been kind of a nightmare.

She gave him an almost smile before remembering she's mad at him and heading to her room.

A few short hours later when half her closet was full of her usual blacks and greys and her bed was made Lucky's phone buzzed; it was a picture message.

Lucky was stood in the middle of two other girls, her dark hair pinned back and wearing a flashy red dress that she had been so against wearing. Sam was to her right, her purple pixie cut and matching dress seemingly making her mocha skin brighter, a blonde to her left, wearing emerald green satin and doing that duck face thing that made Lucky cringe. Kimmy always did that pose because she was convinced her lips were to thin.

 **We miss you already : ( this sucks x Sam**

She wasn't wrong, it did suck. The three of them had been best friends since middle school, had talked and seen each other every day and now she had no idea when she would see them again. And she hadn't even talked to Jake since the night before.

Just before Lucky threw her phone across the room there was a small knock on the door "come in…"

Adam pushed the door open but didn't step inside; instead he leant on the frame "the parentals are sending me for food, you want in?"

"Why not, nothing better to do." She grabbed a pair of black boots and headed down stairs, leaving her phone where it was. She so didn't want to think about it all.

She and Adam pulled up to the place Wayne had told them to go, some neon hell called Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe "Seriously?"

They stepped inside and things just got worse. Now everyone was blatantly staring at them, ok there was like ten people in there but still "Hey we're picking up for March!" Adam just smirked at the guy behind the counter before shrugging "I'm going to take a leak…"

"Gross…" was the brunette's only answer as he brushed past her.

That's right, let's just leave your step-sister all alone in a strange place, great work Adam.

"Well I haven't seen you around before." Some Asian guy was smiling with all his teeth on show and Lucky rolled her eyes at the headache she could feel coming on.

"Just moved in." her answer was simple, informative and flat toned with the point of 'go away' very clear.

"Cool, well I'm Reggie, what's your name? I'm guessing you'll be starting school after the summer, we could even have a few classes together." Apparently her point wasn't clear enough because he seemed to be inching closer.

Lucky just turned to him with a tight lipped smile and glared "Look, Ricky…"

"Reggie!"

"Whatever, I'm not interested. So yeah…" she shrugged at her point because there's no way she could have made it any clearer.

Except Reggie Mantle thought he was some big ladies man and laughed at the idea that some pale chick with a Goth kink could turn him down "right… sure, so how about we get out of here?"

She looked at him like the guy had grown an extra head because seriously come on could she have made it anymore blatant "Are you deaf? Fuck off!"

"Wow, someone has anger issues, I bet you're into all that dominatrix stuff right?" what the fuck was wrong with this guy? She was just about to leave when his hand found her ass and her fist found his neck!

"Lucky what the fuck?!" Adam shouted at her and rushed over to help the guy she'd just punched in the throat "Really, were not even here a day and your pulling this shit? What's wrong with you?"

"Me? This asshole is the one who doesn't understand basic English!" Lucky just watched her step brother help the guy that had assaulted her, fucking dick. There was nothing wrong with her, she wasn't crazy or broken. She wasn't the problem…

"Fuck this shit!"

"Lucky, where are you going?" Adam called after her as she stormed out of the diner, not even going to wait in the car but instead heading down the long street.

"Order up for March…"

It was starting to get dark, the sky turning a watercolor of purple and pinks, Lucky didn't mind the dark. In fact she usually preferred it. She guessed she had some philosophical reason but never really looked too much into it. She wasn't even sure how far she'd walked or for how long, she was just so pissed off I mean wouldn't you be in that situation.

However the unfortunate thing was she now had no idea where the hell she was and had left her cell in her jacket pocket. And where was said jacket, right Adam's car "Fuck…"

As she looked around she noticed the houses weren't as perfectly painted, the lawns not as neatly tended to, the fences were made of mental and wire rather than wood and there were a few stores that had closed up for the night judging by their heavy metal, graffiti sprayed, shutters. The sky had turned into that blue tinted black she loved and the only real light apart from the florescent street lights was a bar on the corner facing an old mechanics. The car park was littered with motorbikes and classic to rusty cars, you could hear the thumbing of music from outside.

Lucky stood tugging on her black sweater for a second, walking into some bar in a strange part of town wasn't really her first choice but it seemed to be her only choice.

When she stepped inside it wasn't what she expected, not in a magazine dream town like Riverdale. The walls were decorated in all sorts of different posters, most of them more than a decade to three old, a few pool tables and even an upper level looking over the bar. It had that classic fifties rocker vibe and Lucky almost smiled.

"If you're ordering more than a coke I'm going to have to see some ID!" the tattoo covered bartender didn't look too impressed at the girl.

"Not why I'm here, you got a phone I could use?" she laughed and leaned against the old repainted bar.

He gave her a confused look before pulling a retro black landline up from nowhere. As she started to spin the dial the bartender laughed "didn't know you kids even knew how to use a real phone."

"What can I tell you, I'm a woman of culture." He laughed before walking off to actually do his job.

The dial tone lasted about two seconds until a panicked voice asked "Lucky?"

"Hey Sarah…" I could hear my dad screaming in the background, probably about me running off or Adam letting me.

"Thank god you're alright. Where are you? Wayne it's her!" before Lucky had a chance to answer Wayne snatched the phone from his wife "Lucky, are you ok? Where the hell are you? Why would you run off like that? What happened?"

"I'm fine dad, relax ok breathe! Some guy at the diner grabbed my ass so I punched him, then Adam came out and defended the douche bag so I bailed. I know dumb move but I'm ok, I swear." Lucky knew it would get Adam into shit with them and now it was Sarah's turn to yell in the background, probably at her son.

"I'm at some bar called the White Wyrm." Lucky could hear her dad's breath hitch slightly as Sarah called down the phone "Ok, honey you sit tight we're coming to get you. Right after I smack the stupid out of your idiot brother!"

"Sounds like a plan. See you soon." Lucky giggled down the phone, she really did like Sarah.

As she put back the receiver the bartender smiled "all done?"

"Yeah, thanks." As he took away the phone Lucky pushed herself off the bar.

No harm in a little exploring.

She noticed there was a white snake in a habitat by the front door and as she actually took in her surroundings she saw a lot of people wearing the same leather jacket with a two headed snake. She just figured the bar was more of a club.

There had been a few like that back in Chicago.

She found herself getting closer to the actual snake in the room, leaning down to watch it slither and pop out its forked tongue "Most girls usually avoid the tank."

Snapping to attention Lucky see's three men have come over to her, they looked a little older than her but not by too much, she also noticed the jacket that seemed to be the bar's logo "I've just never seen one in real life before."

It was an honest and simple answer, they just laughed like I'd apparently said something cute "I'm sure you haven't, I'm also sure we could fix that."

The main one wiggled his eyebrows as the others looked her over like a fresh apple pie "Pass!" Lucky sneered.

"Oh come on, don't you want to party?" the one to the left, who looked pretty mousy smirked.

"Come on Guys, you heard the lady." Lucky turned around to see another guy, this one closer to her own age with longish back hair.

The three men scoffed, clearly annoyed "what do you care boy? Not like she's even your type."

"Your drunk, Tommy; back off." her apparent knight in serpent jacket growled under his breath.

The main guy, Tommy, didn't seem to want to do that and instead took a step up to the boy "you going to make me?"

"Is there a problem here?" all heads turned to the gruff voice, full of authority and annoyance.

Tommy and his friends staggered back slightly "No, FP, we're cool."

The older man moved closer to the group, all eyes on them. The guy, FP, was clearly some sort of power head in the club, he was late thirties early forties, lean and toned with a gruff short beard "Cool? Really? Then why does it look like your harassing this poor girl and our boy Joaquin here?"

The men swallowed before staring at their feet and FP slapped a hand on his shoulder "Go home boy's."

They started to shuffle away much to Lucky's relief but then one of them mutters words he'd soon regret "forget that slut."

"SLUT!? Did you just call me a slut?!" the next thing Lucky knew she'd grabbed a pool cue and was bashing the guy, who was now crumbled and bleeding on the floor with said brunette screaming as the echo of the cue snapping hit her ears Lucky took a step back.

The whole bar had come to a standstill and the man she attacked was curled into the fetal position "you shouldn't name call, it's rude."

Everyone stepped aside as the brunette strolled past with her head held high, handing half of the snapped cue to FP with a timid shrug "Sorry about the mess…"

As she walked out the door FP looked from the people helping up Frank, the guy she'd beaten the crap out of, to Joaquin "who the hell was that?"

The boy shrugged in shock, he'd thought he was saving some poor girl on a rebellion kick that walked into the wrong bar. Then she went complete Misery on Frank.

Lucky was sat outside, itching for a smoke, wondering why she'd gone so nuts on that guy, she always did this. Let her anger get the best of her. It was one of the things she hated most about herself "Is it safe?"

Her head whipped around with a sneer, seeing the boy that had tried to save her "depends, what you want?"

He walked closer to her, arm outstretched with a bottle of soda in hand "you worked up quite the sweat in there. Very impressive?"

"It's his own fault." She took the soda, leaning against some blue truck.

He stood beside her with a coy smile, staring at her as she checked the bottle was sealed "no arguments here. I'm Joaquin."

"Name's Lucky." She smiled, twisting the lip off the soda, satisfied she wasn't going to get drugged and raped by this guy.

He looked pretty amused by her actions "You always check the bottle?"

"I don't know you, you could be some pervert!"

Lucky eyed him suspiciously, swigging at her drink "I could be, but you're not really my type."

"Let me guys you like them with a bit more color in their wardrobe."

"…And a snake in their pants."

She spat out her drink just a little, wiping at the dribble on her chin, now that made Joaquin laugh.

Yep she defiantly wasn't expecting that "Damn must have left my gaydar at home."

"So how the hell did you end up here tonight?" it was a fair question.

It took her a second to answer, checking her smudged lipstick in the trucks mirror "My dad uprooted us into this ass-crack of America and my dipshit step brother pissed me off, so here I am."

"Well, welcome to Riverdale I guess…"

"Lucky!" a red Volvo pulled up and out jumped Sarah and Wayne, complete relief on their faces; Adam trailing behind them looking like a kicked puppy.

"You ok sweetie?"

"We were so worried."

"I'm fine guys. Oh this is Joaquin." He looked a little surprised to be introduced to her parents but shook their hands gladly.

Sarah smiled happily at the boy, pleased to see Lucky was apparently playing nice "so nice to meet you."

Wayne however cast him a cautious stare, eyeing him up "Lucky, come on time to go."

"Lucky I'm sorry about the…"

"Save it!" she glares at Adam, not wanting his apology just because he'd been told to say it before heading to the car.

With a smile over her shoulder she waved back at Joaquin, kind of hoping she'd made a friend "see you 'round?"

"Sure." Again he looked a little taken aback, did he not expect her to want to hang out with him again. Why? He had tried to help her… had even been pretty nice to her.

As they drop back home Lucky could swear she saw that guy, the one with the warm amber eyes, stood by the door of the bar. What was his name again? CJ? JP?

FP! That was it.

How long had he been stood there for exactly?

"Lucky are you listening to me?" her dad's angry tone pulled her back to reality.

"Sorry dad." he didn't seem too pissed off, he knew what she was like, scatterbrained and didn't think, just acted, that was usually the problem. So instead of shouting at her reached for something in the glove box.

"Wayne, do we have to do this now?" Sarah groaned as she drove, already knowing what was coming.

But Wayne ignored his wife and reached behind the car seats, smiling at his little girl "Here… they'll make you feel better."

Adam decided to look out the window, not wanting any part in what was happening. Ignorance is bliss after all. The already fair skinned brunette lost all color at what he had in his hand "Dad…"

"Please Lucky, don't make me ask again." She snatched the pill bottle from him, her lip trembling slightly. He watched her to make sure she swallowed both pills.

"Good girl." Wayne turned back in his seat while his daughter bit at the raw flesh on her inner cheek. She wouldn't cry, it's not like this was new, but that didn't make it any better.

It wasn't fair, she didn't want this, she wasn't crazy… she wasn't, right?

 **Hey guys so I really hoped you enjoyed it and let me know what you think of Lucky and what could happen, I'm open to ideas but do have a main story in mind. By the way I'm sorry about any spelling or grammar mistakes I have dyslexia and my spell check sucks.**

 **JJ xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

The first week seemed to vanish before Lucky could blink. It'd been filled with emptying box's and paint samples.

She hadn't seen much of her dad or Sarah, what between the house and getting the Bakery open she knew they were busy and that was fine with her.

It meant she could explore the town without them wanting to tag along or pushing for Adam to go with her. She wasn't sure what Adam was up to lately and in all honesty she didn't really care; they hadn't seen much of each other either, mostly because he was still pouting about getting screamed at.

Big baby.

But they still insisted that they have breakfast together, Sarah and Wayne both determined to spend actual family time despite their busy schedules. The kitchen smelled like pancakes that made Lucky's mouth water; that is until she saw the bottle of pills waiting beside her orange juice.

She sat down with a huff, running chipped black painted fingers though her chestnut curls "Morning Sweetie."

Sarah offered her a sympathetic smile from across the table as her dad gingerly sipped at his coffee, eyeing his daughter none to suitably "so you two have any plans for today?"

Oh right, Adam was there, texting under the table. The bulky blonde jumped slightly as Sarah kicked him from under the table "what oh um, I'm going to go the gym, get my membership set up. Maybe play some basketball. Luke up the street invited me so… yeah."

"Good, good, Lucky honey what about you?" her dad fixed her with a look, silently demanding her to play along.

So, dramatically she opened the bottle that had been all but shoved down her throat "well first I'm going to take these pretty little treats you left out for me…" she swallowed two pills with a large gulp of her orange juice, never taking her eyes from her father's "mmm yummy, then I'm going to be a good fucking girl, stop smoking, renounce sex, buy a big ass crucifix and join a convent. Happy?"

"Lucky…" he gave her a warning growl, Adam looking skittishly at his phone.

"What dad, not enough?" she fixed him with a glare, knowing they were about to start screaming at each other.

"Uniforms!" Sarah blurted out of nowhere, every head at the table staring at her in complete confusion.

"The new uniforms for the bakery, I picked them up last night… will you two try them on after breakfast?" the blonde woman gave the two minors a pleading glance, wanting to stunt the argument before it truly begun.

"You got it mom." Adam answered around a mouth full of pancakes.

"Sure Sarah…" Lucky sighed, deciding she was too tired to fight with her dad anyway. She hadn't been sleeping to well that last week; she just put it down to the whole new environment thing and totally ignored the flashes of blurred faces, hazy voices and screeching that kept tiptoeing into her dreams.

After Breakfast Lucky and Adam were stood in the living room, now glaring at Sarah who was clapping giddily "oh you two look just precious! Don't they Wayne."

"Yes, very." Her husband laughed.

Lucky and Adam shared a glance, both finally agreeing on something. They looked ridiculous "mom please, I can't wear this!"

"Because it's pink?" she asked, hands on hips.

"NO!"

"YES!"

Again the teens looked at each other, Lucky shocked that Adam was actually fine with the color "Mom it has a bowtie! You know who wears bowties? Nerds!"

Lucky's eyes rolled into the back of her skull at that "seriously? That's your problem here; I look like a Lolita prostitute. Please I'll take the bowtie you have the dress and frilly apron!"

Sarah is about done with their complaining and stomps down her heel "Enough, these are the uniforms and that is that. Now please put them in your closets, don't shove them in a draw, they'll crease. Be good ok. We love you."

As Sarah blows them both a kiss, picking up her handbag, Wayne looks pointedly at Lucky "yeah, be good… my fluffy little marshmallow's"

Lucky's reaction is to naturally flip him the bird as he's laughs on his way out the front door. She and Adam sigh heavily, equally hating the outcome of that morning… "So what are you actually up to today? Spray paint the church?"

The both start heading for their room's as they shout to the other "if I do it'll be better than that spray tan shit you have."

"Spay tan please, all those chemicals? I don't think so. Tinted moisturizer Luck, that's the way to go. You should try it, it's wrong to be American and that pale."

Lucky is down the hall in her own room, already out of the puffy pink monstrosity and shimmying into a pair of black ripped jeans "oh suck my dick and by god could anyone love themselves as much as you? It's sad… really."

Just as Lucky is pulling an old AC/DC shirt on Adam pops his head into the room. "Self love is the first step to happiness, another thing you should try and um yeah you don't have a dick."

"Yet it's still bigger than yours… hey maybe that's why Suzie dumped you!" the second the words left her mouth she wanted to swallow them back down.

Adam looked like he'd just been sucker punched and he kind of had; emotionally.

"Adam wait, I'm so sorry I didn't mean…"

"Save it!" he stormed off with his gym bag over his shoulder, lucky chasing him down the hall with one boot on "Adam wait!"

The front door slammed shut, almost shaking the house and Lucky knocked her head against the wall a few times "Nice work Lucky, bitch move, total bitch move!"

She shook her head in shame, heading back to her room. She knew that whatever happened with Suzie had hit Adam hard. he didn't talk about it, just said she'd dumped him and spent more than a few weeks locked in his room back in Chicago watching every Vin Diesel film known to man and eating his weight in chips.

She'd make it up to him, but in that moment she just needed out of that house.

She needed to fucking breathe for a second.

This wasn't the first time she'd found herself somewhere she shouldn't be, strangely enough she felt safer on this side of the tracks. People didn't stare at her black on black attire like it was a personal insult, or whisper about how she walked around with her headphones permanently attached and probably causing damage with the high volume; Ignoring every fake smile that was shot her way.

Apparently word spread quickly about the March's return because the doorbell hadn't stopped ringing and people just kept coming up to them, it was driving Lucky a little nuts.

So yeah, she decided to head over to the Southside of town, not that anyone really noticed. She liked it that way.

She'd found an old park that looked like it might be abandoned except that she saw the odd few people there with their kids.

She took to sitting on the rusted old bench and sat Buda style, pulling out her sketchbook, tying back her long curls with a thick black ribbon and disappearing into her own little world.

That is until a ball knocked over her backpack, her head shot up to see it was some guys messing around and she plucked a bud from her ear, while picking up the ball "watch it because next time I pop it!"

She threw them back the ball, almost hitting them and was about to put her bud back in when a small chuckle came from behind her "nice social skills."

"Oh please people are overrated" a slow smile crept up her cheek when she saw Joaquin stood with his hands in his pockets. She hadn't seen him since that night at the bar, and decided to actually try because hey, he was nice to her, not because he had to be or anything, he's seen her go nuts on some guy and brought her a soda.

Now that had the potential for actual friendship.

"Want to sit?" she smiled at him, nudging over slightly.

"I've got time to kill." His smirk was sweet as he jumped onto the bench, not sitting on it but on the back rest instead, making him lean over Lucky "hey those are pretty good."

It took her a second to realize what he meant and snapped her sketchbook closed "yeah, they're just doodles."

He doesn't push to see them; try to grab her book, just nods "well they look pretty awesome from what I saw… you want to get out of here? Get some food?"

"Food is always a good idea. Where to pretty boy?"

Not ten minutes later they walked into the White Wyrm, it looked different in the light of day, less people, brighter it reminded her a little of an Irish pub Jake had dragged her to once "They do food here?"

"Yep, pretty good food actually." Joaquin looked at her over her shoulder, he wasn't sure if he should bring her here or not, thought maybe she'd be a little hesitant after what happened last time she was in the bar but apparently not.

He'd seen her around the last week, always seeming to scurry over to the Southside, but he knew she didn't live there; after all he'd met the rest of her family, now they were north side material. I mean come on they were driving a Volvo.

Lucky though, the girl was pretty strange, he never saw her with anyone, not her brother or any of the kids he was sure had introduced themselves with their overly nice nature and nosy casseroles. She'd sneak around to get away from all the bright sunny colors and slither into the shadows.

It made him wonder, was she just some preppy on a mutiny against her parents?

He doubted it.

Her blue-grey eyes seemed to have an edge that fit into the bar; she looked almost at home "Viper, can I get some burgers please."

"Sure thing kid, hey it's you…" the bartender, Viper, smiled and eyed Lucky "you're the girl that put Frank in the hospital."

"Frank?" the two men shared a look, because she seemed pretty confused about what Viper was saying.

"The guy you beat up with the pool cue."

The light bulb came on and she clicked her fingers "Right, that guy! So can I get a coke with my burger?"

"Sure thing." Viper just laughed, realizing she didn't give a shit about Frank.

Joaquin looked at her for a second, trying to figure her out then her arms started flailing around "oh a jukebox!"

Lucky shot out of her chair with a smirk slapped right onto her face, happily flicking through the song section "Any requests?"

She doesn't turn to look at him but Joaquin knows she's talking to him, even though Viper chuckles, wiping down the bar before setting down two cokes "you're not going to find any Taylor Swift in there honey."

She sneers in disgust over her shoulder "Ew, that's not music its complaining with a beat! … now this is a woman worth listening to."

From the old Jukebox Cyndi Lauper's voice traveled around the bar, followed by Lucky's as she turned with a kick of her boot and a shake of her head " _I come home in the morning light_ _,_ _My mother says when you gonna live your life right._ _Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones_ _and girls they wanna have fun_ _._ _Oh girls just want to have fun…_ Dude come dance with me!"

She pulled at Joaquin's hand, oblivious or just not caring about the few people staring "yeah… I don't dance."

She pouted slightly before roughly pulling him up and lifting his arm to do a twirl "Well you do now pretty boy. _Some boys take a beautiful girl_ _and hide her away from the rest of the world_ _I want to be the one to walk in the sun_ _Oh girls they wanna have fun_ _,_ _Oh girls just wanna have…"_

" _Fun…"_ Joaquin attempts to join in at her pointed smile, the brunette forces him to move around with her, making him and rest of the customers laugh at her outdated dancing.

Just before the song ends Lucky's bag starts ringing, she skips over happily, Joaquin slumping to his stool with an exasperated huff "Hello?"

" **Lucky, there's our girl o.m.f.g I miss you so freaking much my heart could just explode, you missing me?** " a sad smile slipped onto the brunettes face at hearing Kimmy's overly chipper voice.

"Hey Kimmy, hang on… could you watch my stuff one second, I'm just taking this outside." She smiled to her new friend before heading to the door.

Joaquin watched her go with a shake of head, Viper swapping out the boy's coke for a beer "looks like you need this dancing queen."

"Cute!" he sneered with a sip of the bitter beer. This girl was going to be trouble.

Outside Lucky squinted against the bright sun and toed the floor absently kicking a rock "of course I miss you, I miss all of you. Anything interesting going on?"

" **Well Daina dumped Casey for Greg at Sharon's party the other day it was so crazy, blood was spilled I swear, you'd have laughed your pretty little butt off."** It was nice to hear Kimmy's voice, she missed the high pitched bimbo…

"Seriously; his brother? Harsh! But not what I meant, I don't really give a fuck about those shit's. What's going on with you? Your parents still giving you shit?" Kimmy was a bimbo, in looks only, under that she was so smart it freaked people out, especially her parents who found out her grade point average and were already planning her life. Her wants be dammed.

" **Kinda, I guess… my dad's pushing for Yale and my mom's pushing for Harvard. I mean I don't get to fighting there both really great schools, Ivy League so…** " Lucky could feel her anger rising deep, and fuck she'd left her smokes inside the bar.

"Don't give me that crap Kimmy, since when the fuck have you wanted to go to a school because it's 'Ivy League'? Fuck them ok, you've had your heart set on that engineering program at Illinois right, the scholarship?"

The other end was silent and Lucky could practically see the blonde biting her fingernails and staring at her feet, it made Lucky want to smash her friends head against the wall "Come Kimmy, don't let them pull this shit again, stand the fuck up for yourself. It's just like when you wanted to play drums and they wanted you to play the fucking cello! For fucks sake girl don't you remember what happened?"

A small sigh come through " **I learned the cello…** "

"And?"

" **I completely and totally hate the cello.** "

"Exactly, Kimmy I love you, you know that but this bullshit needs to stop. You gotta be you and not just want they want for you. Making your parents happy is great but not if you're fucking miserable. Am I getting through to that thick skull of yours or has the hairspray finally melted your brain?" Lucky is pretty much shouting down the phone at this point but it needs saying, Kimmy has a bad habit of buckling when it came to her snobby pushy parents who had always hated Lucky.

" **Yeah, your right, your right. I know what I want, it's my life right?** " at that shaky determination Lucky feels that rage boiling in her blood quell ever so slightly "Damn right. Hey have you seen Jake around?"

" **I've seen him at school but that's pretty much it, oh and he brought the keg at Daina's party… you want me to talk to him?"**

Lucky wasn't stupid, she knew if Kimmy talked to Jake they'd end up screaming at each other "No, no it's cool. Listen Kimmy I got to go; got a friend waiting."

" **You have a friend?"** there was clear surprise in the blonde voice and if it were anyone else Lucky may have been somewhat offended "Why is that so surprising, your my friend, I have lots of friends."

" **Yeah, no you don't and our friendship took after over a year of forcing you to be my study buddy.** " It was true, Lucky hadn't wanted anything to do with the blonde at first, and then they bonded over the girl's excellent taste in music "what do you expect you're really perky, it's fucking creepy!"

" **Whatever, love you."** She giggled

"Love you to. Later." As the call ended Lucky took a second to just stand there, felling the crisp summer breeze against her skin "fuck I need a smoke."

She walked back into the bar and Joaquin had already cleaned his plate and was on his second beer "sorry about that, Kimmy's a bit of a handful…what?"

"You have a friend called Kimmy?" Joaquin couldn't help but laugh "I just didn't imagine you to have a friend called 'Kimmy'!"

"Shut up… hey can I smoke in here?"

"Nope." Viper popped the p as he walked passed them with a tray of drinks.

Joaquin looked at the girl with a swig of his beer "so, how you liking our 'ass-crack of America' I think you called it?"

"The rest of my family think this town is some sort of safe heaven, me? I'm bored shitless. There's nothing to do here, how do you not go fucking insane?" he just laughs as Lucky takes a man sized bite of her burger.

"It's not all bad, but it can get pretty boring at times. But hey 'girls just want to have fun' right?" they both laughed at that, Joaquin pinching a few of her fries.

The day slipped away with laughs, more dancing and smoke breaks, the bar slowly starting to fill up and soon enough the bodies were packing the place like a sardine can.

The pair had moved from the bar to the far end of the room, playing darts "fuck!"

Lucky wasn't very good.

"Pay up!" She slapped a five dollar bill into his hand, watching him stuff it into his jacket pocket along with the rest of the money she'd lost on the stupid game "I'm going to master this game and kick your ass."

"In your dreams." Joaquin started pulling the darts from the board, as he turned his playful smile fell away, seeing his boss, leaning on the staircase not but a foot or two away from his table where Lucky was sat nursing a soda.

"FP?" he knew something had come up, could tell by the way that frown was set into the older man's face.

Lucky turned to find that man from her first time at the bar, the one with the warm brown eyes that made the others tremble slightly "Um, Lucky this is FP, FP you remember Lucky from the other night?"

"I certainly do, you sure gave my boy Frank a lesion in respect… it's a pleasure." He didn't come any closer just eyed the girl with a small smirk and a tilt of his head.

"Well he obviously needed one. Not my fault he had to learn the hard way." The brunette smiled, fingers fidgeting with her bottle.

FP chuckled at her answer before fixing his gaze back onto the young serpent "Mustang and Kip could use a hand in the back…"

It was a simple request, but Joaquin knew what it meant and nodded like the obedient soldier, a new shipment had come in early.

"Sure thing, Lucky you'll be alright here for a second right?"

Her perfectly arched brow twitched up at his question "I think we both know I can take care of myself."

"Good point." She watched Joaquin slip into the crowd at the same time that FP turned his back to her, flashing the leather clad serpent logo "Wanna game?"

FP stops for a second, turns just enough to see her waiting on her stool for an answer "I don't think so."

"Scared?" Lucky taunted, she didn't want to be bored out of her mind waiting for her new friend to get back and FP seemed decent enough, he'd helped her out that night right before she helped herself of course.

"Some other time maybe." He laughed, Lucky watching as he too disappeared into the crowd.

Her grey-blue eyes scanned the room; she didn't know anyone else and really didn't want another encounter with some asshole trying to get into her pants. She decided then was a pretty good time for a smoke break.

The fresh air hit her like a steam train and at some point the sun had disappeared to leave behind the diamond lit black she loved so much, she pulled the cigarette to her lips and clicked her lighter a few times "oh for fucks sake!"

"Need a light?"

Lucky almost jumped out of her stylish yet affordable boots at the voice, turning back to see FP stood near the door, just out of the light "You scared the shit out of me? Creep much?"

"I was out here first sweetheart, not my fault you don't take in your surroundings." He laughed at her with a quirked brow, pulling his own cigarette to his lips and fishing inside his jeans to throw the girl his lighter.

Lucky tumbled for a second before finally lighting her own ciggie "so this is what you do, stand in the dark and smoke, very James Dean of you."

FP laughed as she took just a few steps closer to the dimly lit corner, handing him back his lighter "I'm a man of many talents, now you, Lucky, why are you hanging around here?"

It wasn't condescending or cruel, his question was simply curious and at least he wasn't getting on her case for smoking. Lucky shrugged taking a long drag "nothing better to do… so it's either come around here or help with my parents grand opening, so yeah, my options are pretty limited."

"Grand opening?"

She kicked at a rock absently "Yeah, their opening up this Bakery on the other side of town, The Sweet Spot, looks like it was decorated by fucking Ken and Barbie and my god the uniforms…"

He laughs watching her for a second "hey not all bad right. You're what? Sixteen, seventeen? You've got your whole life in front of you and some pretty good dance moves."

"Yep, well I did learn how to dance from eighties movies."

They shared a small laugh in that dark corner, before her phone rings; she looks at the screen, more than a little annoyed at the name flashing on her screen ' _Jake_ ' "You going to get that?"

"Nope, I'm going to finish this then head back in, order some cheese fries and try to not suck at darts. You in?" she didn't want to talk to Jake, I mean come on she'd called and left messages all week and now he wants to talk to her, fuck him, now she's the one who's busy and his ass can wait.

A side smirk tugged lightly at his lips as he watched her take on last drag before stomping out the bud with the heel of her boot before repeating his earlier answer "some other time…"

"I'll hold you to that." Lucky smiled before skipping back into the bar.

She felt this giddy tingle run down her spine, she wasn't sure what it was, but she couldn't stop smiling. Maybe she was actually marginally ok for once and that was a beautiful thing.

It was almost midnight by the time she got home, thankful that Joaquin had given her a ride on his motorcycle. Lucky hopped of the back and ran her fingers through her long brown curls, handing him back the extra helmet "thanks for today, I had fun."

"Me too, hey what are you doing tomorrow?" he smiled, tying the spare helmet into some net strapped at the back of his bike.

"I have to go pick up paint for the house and stuff but apart from that I'm free." Lucky tries not to seem too excited, she doesn't want to ruin her new potential friendship "Cool well I'm getting some ink done tomorrow if you want to come with, we can hang."

"Sounds like a plan… see around ten?"

"Sure thing, later Lucky." He sped off before she had a chance to say goodnight, and it had been a goodnight.

Jake had called three times and she'd ignored him completely, give the ass a taste of his own medicine. She hadn't had any 'outbursts' as her dad likes to call them and she'd actually had fun and made friends.

It was a good day.

"You're getting in pretty late, it's almost curfew!" before she had a chance to even shut the front door her dad was jumping off the sofa and stood in front of her.

"Almost, as in 'I'm not late' so relax." She shut the door, dropping her keys in the nearby bowl.

Sarah hadn't moved from her comfy spot on the sofa, a glass of wine in hand and she scoffed "Oh Wayne leave the girl alone, she's sixteen for crying out loud. So how was your day sweetie, what have you been up to?"

"Not much, had lunch with a friend, learned how to play darts, which is not as easy as it looks by the way." Now Sarah seemed to try and steady herself, a gleeful smile spreading along her perfectly tanned face, Wayne however crossed his arms over his chest, now firmly in dad mode "A friend? Really tell us about this friend?"

Lucky kicked off her boots and walks around her father and some unpacked boxes to get to the fridge "You met him the other night, Joaquin."

"The boy from the bar?" Wayne looks like's he's about to pop a vain, Sarah setting down her wine glass to smile brightly as usual "That wonderful honey, it's good that your making friends, right Wayne?"

Lucky is plating up a bag of chips watching out of the corner of her eye as Sarah gives her husband that look that screams ' _agree or your sleeping on the lawn'_ "Right, of course but Lucky… ow!"

Sarah had actually pinched him, now that was hilarious.

"I'm going to bed, night guys." Lucky laughed, popping a chip into her mouth.

"Night honey!"

Lucky stood outside Adam's door for a minute, not sure if this was the right move or not, yeah sure they riled each other up but she overstepped, and she wasn't too big to admit when she'd screwed up but at the same time apologies were definitely not her strong suet so she did the only thing she could think of. Put the bowl on the floor, a small one word note inside, knocked on the door and did the breakfast club slide down the hall.

She wouldn't know until the morning if they were ok or not but hey she'd tried! She crawled into her bed, staring out her window at the stars and smiled things where looking up…

 _ **Blood**_

 _ **Screaming**_

 _ **Crying**_

 _ **Empty, dead green eyes**_

' _ **I'm so sorry…'**_

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lucky shot up in her bed screaming, gasping for air, clutching at her chest with a cold sweat soaking her t-shirt.

"Lucky?!" three people burst into the room, they watched her for a second before she sobbed shaking violently.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine."

The three of them rushed over, trying to figure out what happened, trying to comfort her.

It was just a bad dream, she was fine… she was fine… it was a nightmare… just a bad dream… then why did it seem so fucking real?


	3. Chapter 3

So… after the whole waking up screaming thing Wayne had gone more than a little nuts and slipped firmly into overprotective dad mode.

After the second time, he made her an appointment.

Lucky, as you can imagine was less than pleased.

"I don't get why I have to go through this again…"

"Lucky we're just trying to figure out what could be causing these nightmares, this anxiety." Dr. Shaw was just watching the young brunette, shaking her leg up and down with a half smoked cigarette tight between her fingers.

With a long drag, Lucky laughed "yeah, right… no this is more shit for my dad to try and put me in a fucking box."

"Why would he want to do that?" the older woman tilted her head, every word out of her mouth making Lucky want to claw her fucking eyes out.

"Because he just… doesn't get me." she hadn't talked at all during the first few sessions apart from asking if she could smoke, then they started talking about the nightmares.

Honestly Lucky didn't really remember them, just vague coppery smell and a voice she couldn't place.

She hated it; she didn't want to talk to this fucking quack, but she wasn't stupid. Only God knew what her dad would do if she didn't 'get help'.

So she talked, barely.

Afterward, she met Adam outside, he'd sat in his car the entire hour on Wayne's orders after she'd been dropped off and didn't even go into the building during her first session.

As our rebellious brunette hopped into the car Adam ripped the half-smoked cigarette from between her lips "Hey!"

"No smoking in the car. So, how was it?" As he pulled out of the lock Adam looked his stepsister over, she had more makeup on than usual, probably trying to cover the bags under her eyes.

Lucky just scoffed bitterly, biting her nails "it's a fucking joke, I have a few bad dreams and dad sends me to some shrink!"

"Believe it or not but I'm with you on this one… ever since we moved here he's had this bug up his ass."

A small smirk came to Lucky's lips; it was cynical and cold with a click of her tongue "Yeah, he's always been that way; you're just finally getting the picture."

Adam watched his step-sister out of the corner of his eye; yeah Wayne had always been overprotective when it came to Lucky but Adam had always just put it down to her being his little girl. Isn't that what dads did?

Lately, though Adam had noticed how Wayne seemed worse than usual, pushier, more paranoid; maybe it was all because of everything that happened back in Chicago…

They got to the store within the hour and could already tell Sarah was losing her damn mind "Where have you been and where are your uniforms?"

The blonde middle-aged woman wearing a bright pink chief's uniform was seconds away from hyperventilating and while it was very amusing the two kids didn't want her to actually pass out. Adam squeezed his mother's shoulders reassuringly with a small smile "Mom relax, I just had to pick Lucky up from the doctor's remember and we have our uniforms."

Lucky emphasized this by holding up her backpack with a tightlipped smile.

"Right, yes, thank you; both of you. I'm sorry guys it just…"

"It's D-day, the big Kahoka, the birth of your love child. We know how much this means to you Sarah but seriously relax. Captain Protein and I have it covered on our end." At Lucky's words, Sarah let out a heavy sigh "what would I do without you two?"

"Higher strangers with actual qualifications?" Adam laughs, backing up into the bathroom.

Four hours later and the bakery was swamped with people, had been since Sarah had cut the big pink bow on the door in front of the noisy crowd of their neighbors, Lucky fought the urge to roll her eyes into the back of her head when they cooed over her uniform.

Then it happened "well, look at you…"

Her head shot up to find those warm amber eyes she'd come to know well over the last few week's "not a fucking word!"

FP held his hands up, almost mockingly. Lucky couldn't help but notice the lack of leather he usually sported "so this is the Sweet Spot. Very… pink."

"I warned you. So you just stop by to stare or do you actually want something?"

He looked at the counter, covered in fresh and mouth watering pastries "Any recommendations?"

"Everything is kind of awesome, personally though the Apple Rose's are pretty fucking fantastic. Sarah does this thing with the cinnamon, better than sex." It felt good, not having to force a smile and bite back a cuss.

If he'd have been anyone of the other customers she'd dealt with that day her description would have been fucking scandalous. Thankfully though this was FP Jones, so his expression turned into one of decision and nodded slightly "sounds good; I'll have a dozen of those."

She twirled around in her sickly sweet dress to box up his order and no matter what you thought you saw FP would deny to the grave that he'd checked out her smooth, milky, little legs that were usually hidden beneath black denim "Wise choice."

"Lucky…your phone's been going four like the last hour!" Wayne's head popped around from the office, Lucky's phone in hand and a smile on his face "It's Jake."

Boxing up the pastries Lucky rolled her baby blues in annoyance "you know he's my boyfriend, not yours right?"

"I like the boy, most girls would be glad of their father's approval… he's on hold." Lucky hated how true that probably was.

The look of annoyance on the young girls face brought a twitch of a smiled to FP's. Wayne eyed the man in his plaid shirt and gruff short beard, he looked familiar but Wayne just couldn't place him "That's eleven ninety-nine."

She could feel her father's eyes burrowing into the back of her head as she finished FP's order "Thanks." The serpent leader gave her a small nod before heading for the door, his gaze never met her fathers.

"I'm going on break." Lucky snatched the phone as Wayne watched the man his daughter had smiled at fade away through the store window.

Out the back, Lucky was already lighting up as Jake talked at her down the phone about some shit with his teacher. Nothing that actually mattered "Lucky are you even listening to me?"

"Chill out I'm just lighting my smoke, geez. So Mr. Danes is still giving you shit?" she leaned into the shade of the brick wall with a frustrated sigh.

"Yeah, babe I swear that asshole has it out for me. Said some shit about having me cut from the team if my grade doesn't go up. I mean seriously what the fuck? Who gives a shit about a bunch of people who died hundreds of years ago or whatever?" Jake always did this, blamed everyone else for his own shit.

Hell he'd even tried to make it her fault she hadn't heard from him that first week. That he was under so much pressure because she left, his heart was broken… not broken enough to miss a fucking kegger though.

That was his main move.

Head games.

But he was Jake… her first love, first kiss; first fuck… so Lucky just got on with it.

Later that night when the store was closing up Lucky popped her head into the office "Hey dad can I change in here? Adam's taking up the bathroom and I've got to get out of this fucking dress!"

"Sure thing honey. So how's Jake?" he asked not even looking up from his desk while Lucky headed around the bookcase for some privacy "Jake's fine. Same bullshit different day."

"You're too hard on him, Jake's a good guy. He's always stuck by you, not a lot of boys would have…"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Lucky burst out from behind the bookcase in her washed out, torn gray shirt and black panties. Her favorite jeans half hanging on her right leg

"Jesus Lucky; cover yourself!" Wayne squawked at the sight of his half-naked daughter, looking anywhere but at his precious little bundle of rage.

"Answer the fucking question!" Lucky's eye's looked like they were about to pop out of her head, not caring a fucking lick about her state of dress.

Wayne sighed in defeat, pinching the bridge of his nose "I didn't mean it like that. It's just he's been good to you; he's good for you…"

A bitter chuckle erupted from the young girl as she finally decided to finish putting her pants on "bull-fucking-shit! You meant that after what happened, anyone else would have dumped my ass right? Cut their losses, I mean if I wasn't biologically linked to you you'd have probably kicked me to the curb years ago!"

The loud echo of his fist hitting the table almost made her jump, but the words that followed… well, I think she'd have preferred a kick to the gut " _Holy shit!_ _Why, in the name of fucking god, do you have to act like some crazy little bitch?!_ "

The moment to words left his lips Wayne wanted nothing more than to suck them back out of the air. His eye's full of instant regret met Lucky's, his little girl, the mascara already starting to smudge "Lucky…"

But he didn't get the chance to even finish saying her name before the brunette bolted out of the door. He watched the spot she'd been stood in for a long agonizing moment before falling back into his chair and burying his head in his hands "Fuck!"

She couldn't breathe, couldn't stop running, before she even realized what was happening she was in the middle of the woods.

Her feet hurt, why did they hurt so much… she almost wondered before falling into a sobbing mess in the dirt, holding her knees close. Her own father even thought she was nuts… _crazy little bitch_.

That's what he said, she always knew he'd thought it, but he said it, confirmed it.

Lucky could taste the bitterness of her makeup mixed with the salt of her tears. She just couldn't catch her breath.

"Fuck, Lucky?" When did it get so dark, when did she leave the woods… she couldn't remember, when had she even stopped crying.

Wait, was someone speaking to her?

She looked up to his some lean, black-haired classic greaser style guy, with tattoo's covering his neck and hands, he was pretty though, very pretty "Jimmy?"

She knew him from the Wyrm, he was one of Joaquin's friends, and she'd hustled him at cards the first night they met. His green eyes scanned over the girl, she was covered in dirt and had black makeup tear tracked down her alabaster cheeks "Lucky what happened? Where are your shoe's?"

Shoes? What was he talking about?

Glancing down she realized why her feet hurt so much, she hadn't put her boots on before she'd run off, hadn't even thought about it until that moment. Suddenly her feet hurt even more…

"I guess I forgot them..." she was still staring at her feet, dazed and Jimmy wasn't sure what he was meant to do.

He'd barely known the girl a month but after that first night with Frank she'd build up quite the reputation as a tough little thing that didn't take anyone's shit, she was respected and welcomed.

This version of her was a stranger to him; she looked like a lost lamb "Why don't I take you home?"

"NO!" her head suddenly snapped, making Jimmy's eyes narrow slightly in suspicion.

Lucky' shook her head, pushed back her tattered curls and licked her chapped lips "No, um could you call Joaquin?"

"Sure, sure whatever you need…" he didn't hesitate to pull out his cell and dialed the other serpent, walking away from her slightly for a touch of privacy.

" **Hey, man**."

"Hey, listen dude I just ran into your girl Lucky and she doesn't look too good." Jimmy lowered his voice, not wanting to spook the already shaky girl.

" **What? What do you mean? Is she okay?"** he could hear the panic in his old friend's voice, knowing him and the girl had gotten pretty close over those last few weeks "I don't know man, she seems pretty out of it, she's covered in dirt, obviously been crying and she doesn't have any freaking shoe's on. I asked if she wanted me to take her home but she asked me to call you."

" **Where are you?"**

"Just off Blanchard and James…" Jimmy could hear the key's jingling and what he assumed was Joaquin's front door slamming shut " **I'll be there in ten, stay with her!"**

"You got it, man." Jimmy turned back and saw Lucky wasn't where he'd left her.

Instead, she was sat on the edge of the curb examining her feet. Jimmy walked back over, hands in his pockets, not getting too close "he's on his way."

"Thanks, Jimmy, fuck that hurts." She didn't look at him for a minute until she'd pulled a small rock out of the tender flesh of her heel "I don't bite you know, well not tonight anyway."

Jimmy sighed in relief he was used to that, snarky wit he could handle. He took a seat next to her and even then he still towered over the girl "Sorry, I'm not good at the whole girl's crying thing."

"Seriously, last week I saw you break some guy's jaw because he owed you fifty bucks, but runny mascara, that's your fear?" the blue eyed girl scoffed as her foot finally stopped bleeding.

"That and mince, it's those beady little eyes." He managed to get a laugh out of her, he wanted to ask, wanted to know what happened but Jimmy knew he didn't know her well enough for that.

Lucky shook her head with a crooked smile "and here I thought you were a real man."

"Oh like you you're not scared of anything? Oh, fearless one!"

It was good; keep her mind off whatever the fuck it was that made her all loopy "um… cats. Oh and clowns."

"Ok clowns I get, I've seen IT, but why cat's?"

"They're creepy, always bringing you shit they killed, that's fucked up… also one of my dad's old girlfriends had like four and one of the fuckers's scratched the shit out of my face." Jimmy couldn't help but laugh, imagining Lucky trying to fight off some crazed cat.

She punched him hard in the arm, and for as small as she was it actually hurt him… then a roar of Joaquin's motorbike echoed before them "Lucky, you ok?"

"I'm fine, just a flesh wound." She winced standing to her feet, her friend rushing over to help her stand with a thankful nod to Jimmy.

Lucky waved back weakly, climbing onto the back of the bike with her torn feet. Jimmy watched the pair rocket out of sight, wondering if she'd tell Joaquin what happened, if she'd be ok, if everything was alright at home.

He turned on his heel and found the last thing he expected to see. He'd almost bumped straight into FP he was so close, his eyes filled with that strange, dark look he got when he was trying to figure something out and finally asked with a click of his tongue "want to tell me what the hell all that was about?"

More than a few blocks away Joaquin opened his front door, letting Lucky hobble in first. The apartment looked pretty small, the walls a burnt brown sort of color with a few old-fashioned pillows thrown around to brighten up the place "Take a seat, I think I have a first aid box around here somewhere."

As her ass met the torn leather sofa she watched him rummage around the kitchen, she looked around but didn't see any family photos. This was the first time she'd been to his place, Lucky knew he'd lived alone, had told over one too many beers how his dad split when he was just in diapers and his mom took off six months ago with her latest boyfriend.

Not that school's or anything knew that…

He comes out with an empty first aid box and a heavy sigh "Hey I'm going to just head out and get some shit for your feet. If you want to wash up feel free, doubt my mom's stuff would fit so you can grab some of mine if you want. You going to be ok?"

"Always am… Joaquin…" her half smile faded to a real on as he headed for the door, turning back to find how uneasy he was with how timid she seemed in that moment "Thanks…"

With a flash of his teeth, Joaquin shrugged it off "hey, don't sweat it."

After he'd left Lucky had managed to make her way to the bathroom without hurting herself too much. The hot water felt good on her skin, she liked watching it turn red, almost burn. She washed away the grime and dirt from her porcelain skin with some old shower sets she'd found in the back of the cabinet if she had to guess she'd say they belonged to Joaquin's mom because yeah, strawberry and lily? Not really his usual scent.

She liked it. It was sweet, like candy.

After she threw on one of his blue t-shirts with some white logo she didn't recognize and shimmied into a pair of green boxers. Calvin Kline. Nice. A bang echoed around the small apartment. Lucky made her way to the door on the tips of her toes, trying not to piss off her already angry looking feet.

She swung the door open and two lines set into her brow, confused "FP, hey… um, Joaquin's just stepped out."

His warm brown eyes scanned over the girl, her chestnut curls, heavy and dripping spots onto the oversized shirt she was wearing "right, can I come in?"

"Don't see why not… Oh fuck!" she'd forgotten for a second and stepped back on her foot, yep she'd pissed it off.

As she stumbled slightly a strong arm rounded her waist "Here…"

FP helped her over to the sofa, sitting on the coffee table as he took a look at her broken and battered feet "what happened here?"

"I went for a run, turns out that shit's better with shoe's." Lucky just laughed it off, he didn't want to hear about her teenage drama. Nobody ever really did.

His course hands laid her feet in his lap as she laid back into the cushions. FP watched her, the tracked mascara and dazed stare she'd had when he saw her with Jimmy all but gone, but she still looked kind of lost, a familiar look he knew all too well from the old man he saw in the mirror.

"Lucky… tell me what happened? If someone laid a hand on you just tell me I'll have their nuts, and whatever other parts you want, deep fried!" his thumb was making soothing circles around her soft ankle, trying to comfort the girl that had always seemed so strong.

Lucky bit at her lip to stifle her laugh, shaking her head from side to side lightly. She watched his eyes, so full of concern, was he actually worried about her?

"It's nothing like that. I just had a fight with my dad is all… it's nothing."

FP's brow quirked up as his shoulders dropped in almost relief "Nothing? Right, so nothing made your go running off barefoot and mangling your pretty size eights?"

"Seven!" she looked pretty offended by that, almost like he'd called her fat or something.

He held his hands up in surrender, a deep chuckle on his lips "my mistake."

They sat silently for a minute, maybe more and it was ok, easy…

"You should call your parents; let them know you're ok." Then he said that.

Lucky pulled her feet from his lap with a deep groan "Yeah, like my dad even cares…"

"What about your mom, or that brother of yours that you're always complaining about? Come on, call them." FP pulls out his phone and she just looks at it; sat the in palm of his hand and thinks about Sarah and Adam, he was right they would be worried… would her mom have been as worried as Sarah? Would she have screamed at Wayne for what he said? Would she agree with him?

With a sigh of defeat and her usual eye roll, Lucky snatched the phone and started dialing one of few people she could bear to speak to at that moment " **Hello?"**

"Hey, Adam…"

" **Lucky thank god your dad's been going nuts! He and mom have been out looking for you for hours. Are you alright? Do you need me to come get you?** " as Adam had been rambling down the phone Joaquin walked in, taken aback for a moment by the sight of FP sat on his coffee table with Lucky curled up on the sofa.

The two exchanged small nods as the younger man came over with his supplies to finally tend to Lucky's feet. He carefully took one foot into his lap from his seat beside her, wordlessly. A small smile crept to the girls face "No, no I'm ok, I'm with some friends; they're taking care of me."

" **Luck, what happened? Wayne wouldn't say… I just… your sure you're okay?"** the concern in his voice warmed her heart ever so slightly "I'm fine, pinky swear. Actually, I think I'm going to crash here tonight, I don't really want to deal with dad and his bullshit right now."

" **Okay, sure. I'll let them know. Be safe yeah?"**

"Always am. Night."

" **Night."**

She handed the phone back to FP with a touch of a smile "Thanks."

"No problem." the older man with the brown eyes smirked back.

"Ow Fuck dude, that's my foot not a hunk of metal! Be careful" Lucky barked as Joaquin was halfway done wrapping her foot.

He just laughed with a shake of his head "Yeah well maybe if you'd actually remember that little detail, you wouldn't have fucked them up in the first place."

Lucky's answer to that was to stick out her tongue in a very mature manner… FP smiled at the sight, someone was obviously feeling better. The serpent leader slapped both hands onto his knees and asked: "Well, now that that's done with how about Pizza?"

A while later the three of them sat watching the second film in the Alien franchise. Lucky was tucked under a blanket on the sofa, Joaquin sat beside her with her bandaged feet over his lap while FP took the recliner.

"That is so weird!"

Lucky looked at her friend in shock horror "Me? Dude you have fucking fruit on it! That's disgusting and just plain wrong!"

Joaquin shook his head, grabbing another slice of his pizza "it's just Pineapple, but you, I mean who orders fries as a topping?"

"Apparently she does…" FP answered, eyes glued to the screen as he took a bite of his normal, boring, four cheese slice.

Lucky held up a slice of pizza, offering to the boy "dude just try it, I swear it's awesome."

"I'm perfectly happy with my pineapple and ham, thanks."

At his dismissal Lucky inched closer to the edge of the sofa, pizza still in hand "FP? Willing to give awesomeness a taste?"

His dark eyes darted between her, the slice of pepperoni and French fries, and his serpent son. Her baby blues were wide and pleading and looked brighter without their usual black rim "why the fuck not?"

FP leaned into her waiting hand and bit off the end of the pizza. Both kids watching him in anticipation as he chewed. They watched him swallow with a lick of his lips before leaning over to Lucky's box and snatching a slice for himself "that's some good shit."

"Yes! Fuck you, I told you it was awesome." Lucky punched the air in triumph. Gloating as she took a large bite of the same slice FP had tasted, sauce smearing on her chin.

He hadn't intended to stay, had just meant to stop by, make sure the girl was alright and maybe head back home, pick up a six pack on the way, but somehow he'd ended up waking up in the TV lit living room of his young serpent at God only knows what hour.

FP looked over to where he'd last seen the two teenagers but found nothing but a twisted blanket. Then over the sound of the still running movie, he heard Joaquin snoring and saw him curled up on the floor under some old bathrobe he'd been wearing earlier.

But no sign of Lucky.

His foot lightly kicked Joaquin, the boy jittering only slightly as he bolted upright, wiping at his sleepy eyes "what? what happened?"

"Where's the girl?" at FP's words Joaquin seemed like he'd been hit with a can of coffee, his head darting around the room to try and find his friend "I don't know. Bathroom?"

Something didn't feel right, both men felt it, the cool and comfortable vibe from earlier had turned tense and a touch too warm. As FP took off through the apartment, Joaquin was hot on his heel's.

There was a thin line of light escaping through the crack under the bathroom door. "Lucky? You in there?" FP warped his knuckle lightly against the door.

Joaquin, however, didn't wait for a reply as he pushed the door open. There she was, laid out on the cold tile of the bathroom.

"Lucky!" Joaquin rushed passed his boss, falling to the floor while FP stood frozen, what the fuck?

"Lucky!" Joaquin shook her shoulders and both men gave an almost sigh of relief as she slowly sat up, using the sleeve of her borrowed shirt to wipe at her mouth and she mumbled: "Hey, where's the fire?"

"What the fuck are you doing down there?" FP snapped at her seeing she was alright except for the fact she'd just been asleep on the fucking floor.

She looked between their annoyed and worried stares and shrugged "Puking. What, I had too much Pizza."

The two men stared from her to each other for a second before bursting out laughing. Lucky stood up and took a gulp of the mouthwash near the sink, spitting it out to then walk past the pair with a playful shake of her head "you guys are fucking weird. Now, what movie are we up to?"

Joaquin joined FP in the hall, watching her go and FP smirked: "That's girl's going to be trouble."

The younger man chuckled with a small nod "Yeah, but that's part of the fun right?"

They didn't get to finish the rest of the movie, ended up talking about how ridiculous it was that Joaquin hated horror movies and had never seen a single classic, naturally Lucky was outraged while FP found it quite amusing.

By the time they'd actually fallen back asleep the sky was a wash of pinks and purples. It had been a hell of a day…

It wasn't until after noon when they'd finally managed to wake up, and it was to Lucky dancing around the kitchen in those green boxes and singing along to Journey "morning boys. I'm making Egg in the Basket so get your butts up and set the table."

Over breakfast, they laughed and talked about how Sarah had helped teach Lucky to cook after years of takeout abuse. Joaquin had some 'business' he needed to take care of at the Wyrm for Viper so FP had offered to drive Lucky home. Thankful that Joaquin had washed her clothes the night before; they smelled nice, like juniper now rather than dirt.

The older serpent was about to cut her hand off if she didn't stop fiddling with the radio when they finally rolled to a stop outside her house on the nicer side of town.

Lucky just sat there, looking out the window and to her front door like she was trying to make a decision "ain't this the part where you get out and go inside."

"Usually, but I'm just trying to figure out the best cause of action before I do that. Get my plan of attack in place." She hadn't looked at him, but she could feel those brown eyes blaring into the back of her head.

He felt for the girl, she seemed so out of place here, he knew this town well, knew it didn't take kindly to those that swam against the tide and this kid fucking boogie boarded through it!

"Must have been some fight."

Her head turned to stare blankly at the dashboard, her paint chipped fingers playing with each other fretfully "Joaquin said that my dad was just saying it to hurt me, everyone does that right, even parents?"

FP leaned over ever so slightly; his arm stretched over the back of the seat "Said what?"

She was biting at her plump bottom lip again, FP figured it must me a nervous habit "He… he called me a _crazy little bitch_. I just, yeah, ok I'm eccentric and dramatic and shit plus I have no fucking impulse control whatsoever but I'm not some fucked up nut job. I'm not crazy! … Least I don't… don't think I am. But my dad, Adam, Jake… then all that shit back home…"

He watched as she almost broke, but she fought it back, tried to bite back tears. FP felt bile and rage churn in his chest at the sight and placed a hand on the back of those silky chestnut curls "hey, now you listen to me. There ain't a damn thing wrong with you, so you're a little cracked, newsflash Princess, everyone and their grandma has something upstairs that don't work right. Anyone who says's different is either lying to you or themselves. That's just the way it is. It doesn't make you ' _crazy_ ', it makes you human. You got that?"

Her baby blues stared at him like he'd just smacked her, and in a way he had. Everyone had always said it was in her head, she was fine, nothing was wrong with her, no one had ever actually confirmed that the entire human race was just as fucked up as her. Her petal pink lips twitched into a small smile, one of those real ones she saved for special occasions.

Then it was FP's turn to be shocked as those soft sweet lips grazed his gruff, bristled cheek. He couldn't tear his away as he watched the brunette slip from his truck, shutting the door with a slight nod a barely heard whisper "thank you, Forsythe."

"Hey now, who the hell told you my name?" he called after her with a lopsided smirk playing on his lips.

Lucky turned back, her face almost splitting in two at her own smile as she backed closer to the house "that's for me to know and you to _dot, dot, dot_."

FP shook his head at her, not many people called him by his actual name, never dad even as a boy, he doubted it was Joaquin who told her, the boy knew better. Still, it was another mystery about her he couldn't quite figure out. He waited until he saw her disappear into the blue house, the nice house on the nice side of town before he heads back where he belonged, the not so shiny part of Riverdale, to do things that would make these people gasp and whisper in appall.

Once Lucky and her stinging feet managed to pass the threshold she was planning to sneak in and hide in her room until the inevitable. However, it seemed her namesake was against her because the moment the door opened there was her father, he shot up from his chair like he had a rocket attached to his ass. He didn't move, just stared at her, like he didn't trust his own voice.

Lucky pretty much mirrored his stance and by the thin strip of stubble on his face and bloodshot eyes, she doubted he'd slept that night.

"Lucky!" it wasn't him, it was Sarah, all smiles as she comes out the kitchen rubbing flour off her hands.

The blonde woman made her way over to her stepdaughter, quickly wrapping her in her long tanned arms before taking her pale hands in her own "Oh honey, your feet…"

Wayne finally decided to move just around the corner to see what his wife was talking about to see the bloody bandages on his little girl's poor feet "what the hell happened?"

Lucky didn't answer him, barely even acknowledged him as she shrugged "it's my own fault; forget my boots at the bakery. Joaquin patched me up pretty good though, even gave some painkillers so I'm good. No worries."

Sarah gently moved a dark curl out of Lucky's face, brushing her cheek ever so slightly "that's good. He seems like such a good boy, taking such good care of our girl… hey how about I whip you up something yummy; Strawberry Tart with some of my famous vanilla bean ice cream?"

"Sounds fucking awesome." Lucky smiled sweetly while Sarah cupped her cheeks a pinch too hard "coming right up."

She watched Sarah head back into the kitchen, no longer there to buffer or block what was to come. After a second of awkwardness, Lucky gave up and head for the stairs. Wayne almost mumbling after her only to sigh in defeat, a heavy hand rubbed against his tired eyes, she was home, she was safe, maybe he should just head to bed… maybe it would just blow over on its own.

"Wayne Jeffery March, you better not be thinking of anything but marching up those stairs after her." Sarah was stood in the kitchen arch, staring a bowl of batter balanced against her hip as she stared her husband down.

"What am I supposed to do Sarah? What do I say? I just… I never know what to say. No matter what I do, I always seem to just make things worse." The sweet woman he'd been lucky enough to marry came to tenderly stroke at his stubbly cheek "she's not some math problem for you to solve Wayne, she's your daughter. She just need's you to be there, that's all. Maybe not front and center but she still needs you. Just, let her know she's not alone… you'll do fine."

She gave him a light peck on the lips before returning to her comfort cooking, at his wife's words Wayne smiled, a firm nod to himself as he decided what to do… he had some calls to make.

It was almost two hours later that there was a knock on Lucky's door; she spent the time in her favorite rabbit onesie organizing her DVD marathon for the day because besides food and house burning down she had no intention of leaving her room. "Come in!"

She'd expected Sarah to be the one opening her door with treats in hand, but was shell-shocked to see Wayne stood sheepishly in her doorway with her homemade treats "Hey sweetheart."

"Can we not do this?" She snapped, so not wanting this conversation.

Wayne sighed heavily, running a hand through his blonde hair while he set the tray down on her dresser before taking a seat on the edge of her bed, still made from not being slept in the night before, and he tapped the empty space beside him "please…"

Lucky rolled her eyes, it looked more childish than anything in her onesie; before she flopped down Buda style on the bed "so what now?"

"Lucky I know I can be pretty strict with you, I know you think I'm just being hard on you for whatever reason, but I do those things because I care. You are the most important thing in the world to me, sometimes you just remind me so much of your mother… it scares me." he couldn't meet her gaze, couldn't look in his own eyes on his dead wife's face.

This caught Lucky's attention, she knew so little of Rose, fractured memories from photo's really "why? Was she really that bad?"

"No, no, I loved her, a part of me always will. She was so strong, fearless… I see that in you and I just… I don't want to lose you Lucky, I couldn't bare it!" his gaze finally met hers, his hand cupping the back of her head lightly through the cotton bunny suit "any way the point is, what happened yesterday, what I said… I'm so sorry honey; you have to know I didn't mean a word of it. You're not crazy. You know that right."

What FP had said in the truck came back to her in that moment as she shrugged not a hundred percent sure what she was agreeing with "yeah, I know."

He smiled weakly at that, pulling her head slightly to look at him "Hey I have a surprise for you, let's call it an apology."

Lucky raised a skeptical brow, the last time he got her a surprise they both ended up with food poisoning on New Year 2011"oh god you didn't cook that tart did you?"

Wayne laughed at the horror on her face at the idea "Relax, it's a hundred percent Sarah. No, I um, I made some calls and got Samantha and Kimberly's parents to agree to them coming up here for a few days."

"Oh, my holy fucking shitting Mary! Seriously?" her face lit up like a Christmas tree, arms flailing around until she jumped on her father, hugging him so tight he could barely breathe.

"Yes seriously, but I want best behavior, no trouble!" he was trying to be stern but her excited child-like eyes couldn't allow it as she smirked "Me? Trouble? Never. Thank you, thank you!"

He stood to leave as he watched her scrabble for her phone, no doubt to spend the next few hours texting her friends and making plans for their visit.

He was almost out, almost done when his daughter's voice pulled him back "Dad…"

"Yes sweetheart?" he was expecting her to ask for money or something for when her friends visited, but what she asked next made his heart drop out of his chest "do I really remind you of mom?"

He forced a smile that could never reach his eyes "More than you know. Now I have to get some actual sleep, enjoy your tart honey, love you."

"Love you too." Lucky smiled as he closed the door behind him. Wayne never really talked about Rose, it was a nice thought that somehow she was like her…

Too bad her father didn't feel the same way because just down the hall Wayne sighed in exhaustion, head in his hands as he sat on his own bed that beckoned to him. His heavy eyes landed on his bedside table, littered with pictures of the family he'd worked so hard to make. However, as he pulled open the drawer and took out a framed picture that had been so carefully hidden he felt so many things at once.

The picture was of his darling Rose, her bright green eyes staring into her newborn's face with nothing but joy, his thumb brushed over the image before angrily flinging it across the room, the shatter echoing.

He wouldn't let it happen, wouldn't let Rose ruin his little girl… not again. Not after everything he'd done and everything he'd sacrificed.

He just wouldn't allow it.


	4. Chapter 4

It all happened so fast, there were no warnings… or maybe there were and she just hadn't noticed. Either way it felt wrong, the feeling churning away inside her, burning her out… it was just over, gone and by fucking god did it hurt.

She had no idea how it would turn out, those few days. So I suppose I should start with the before part, before it felt like a part of her world had crumbled to ash.

In the small, single Starbucks, town of Riverdale, everyone was scurrying around, planning street parties and barbeques and believe it or not Lucky was pretty excited to, not because of the summer get-togethers.

She'd been up since before dawn, all but glued to the window box of her room and when she saw that little red beetle roll up outside her house she almost jumped out the window.

Outside a blonde girl wearing a white summer dress and jeweled sandals smiled brightly at the matching houses the car window "It's so quaint…"

"Yeah, reminds me of Nightmare on Elm Street!" Sam shrugged as she turned off the engine, Kimmy gave her a small slap on the arm "oh you!"

"BITCHES!" Lucky sprinted out of the house and the moment they saw her both girls scrambled out of the car; the three of them meeting in some sort of jumping hug thing, and talking over each other yet somehow hearing every word.

It was a strange girl magic. That's what Wayne assumes as he watches the trio from the living room window, sipping at his morning coffee "well someone looks pretty happy."

A smile tugged at the blonde man's face as he nodded in agreement "she does, doesn't she?"

Poking him lightly in the chest with her perfectly chiseled pink nail Sarah said "I meant you silly, you did good honey."

Wayne smiled and pulled his wife under his arm, kissing the top of her head "that's because I have you."

The girls came tumbling through the door with their bags and giggling "Hey, Mr., March, Mrs. March."

"Hey girls, Sam I love the new hair!" the mocha skinned girl flipped at her baby blue locks, almost shoulder length now "yeah well I felt like a change."

"It suites you well Samantha." Wayne smiled.

"Looks fucking hot! I told you years ago to grow it out, cute right?"

"I know, so cute! Now come on let's dump these bags and our girl can give us the tour!" Kimmy pretty much jumped up the stairs, her fingers latched on to Lucky's as she dragged her along behind her. Sam rolling her eyes with a light smile as she followed after her two best friends.

It was a while later that the three of them were trolling around town, shopping bags in hand. Well they were until Lucky had demanded they stop for food. Lucky was stuffing her face with fries as Sam scoffed, eyeing the bright lights of Pop's "why do I feel that I'm not going to be able to get sushi around here?"

"Sam, don't be such a snob; so Lucky you said something about a drive in? Sounds so Grease, OMG will they show Grease?"

The other two girls shared a look with a shake of their heads, Lucky had missed this, them. Kimmy's sweet giddiness and Sam's naturally annoyed nature. Having them there made her feel almost normal… but let's not get a head of ourselves.

They tumbled back through the March's little blue door just before dark, to find Adam making some sort of protein man-shake in the kitchen. Sam licked at her chocolaty lips at the sight of him in his tank and sports shorts "my, oh my, Adam still extremely hot I see."

Lucky made a gagging noise at the sight; Kimmy happily ignoring the awkward situation to fiddle on her cell. Adam gave the girl eyeing him an awkward smile and rubbed the back of his head "um, thanks? So you guys are going the drive-In later?"

The question was asked looking at Lucky's baby blues more than a little pleadingly. Sam had always had a little bit of a thing for Adam, the girl was a hunter of hotness, but the only person he'd ever even shown the slightest bit of interest in had broken his heart, fucking Suzie!

"Yeah, better than hanging around this dive all night." Lucky moved to slightly to nudge Sam behind her, taking the girls hand as she reached out for Kimmy with a wiggle of her fingers.

The blonde girl finally tore her eyes away from her phone for a second to reach out and grab her friend's digits and asked innocently with a bat of her fake lashes "Yup, should be cool, you coming?"

Adam shook his head, swallowing like a stray bird under a cat's glare with Sam in the room "not a chance in hell!"

"Come on guys, let's go pick out outfits and shit." Lucky pushed them out the room and mouthed a 'sorry' to her step brother. Adam let out a relived breathe at finally being away from the dark skinned beauty and whisper shouted to his step sister "keep her away from me, that girl is fucking terrifying!"

Lucky just laughed and nodded with a silent promise. Most guy's would be flattered, hell they usually were, Sam's hot and she owns her sexuality proud, Adam just… wasn't into that I guess.

Lucky's room was covered in half empty shopping bags, new clothes strewn everywhere as they decided what to wear, Kimmy turned everything into an event while Sam just wanted to look as amazing as possible. So naturally Sam was trying on her fifth outfit of the night, while Kimmy had settled on a peach, rose patterned jumper over white smock dress, her pin straight blonde hair loosely tied into some side braid thing as she pushed Lucky into a chair to force her to actually style her messy chestnut curls rather than have them loose and free as usual.

"How about this?" Sam asked, twirling around in a green beaded crop top and brown leather pants.

Lucky tilted her head to examine the outfit, Kimmy already cooing over it with a slight blush, to much skin for her taste "try those sparkly shoes on."

"The red or the purple?"

"Um, the ones Kimmy said made your butt look good and I said were a death trap!"

"Purple it is." Sam rummaged through her pile of clothes, while Kimmy smiled brightly down to the brunette "there, perfect, now we can see your pretty face."

Lucky laughed as the blonde pushed her in front of the mirror, the messy curls had been pushed to the top of her head into some bun shape with a few stray curls framing her face, a maroon ribbon tied to keep it all in place, matching her lipstick and velvet skater skirt Kimmy had pushed her into buying. Lucky was adamant about keeping her beloved combat boots and more than a little skeptical about showing off her milky-cream legs, thankfully Sam had loaned her a pair of black vine patterned lace tights that almost went pretty well with her old Jack Daniel's tee.

Then the sparkly black phone case started to buzz lightly on the dresser and Lucky cringed slightly as Jakes name popped up, who knew how bad putting up with him would be even long distance. She was just about to answer it when Kimmy leaned over Lucky's shoulder, wrapping her arms around her and smiling into the refection staring back before blinding the pour girl with a multi array of flashes "Jesus fuck Kimmy! The ability to see is something I've grown pretty fucking attached to!"

She could hear Sam laughing from the behind them and turned with her spotted vision to throw a makeup bag at the pair "fucking bitches!"

"You love us really."

A small smile twitched at Lucky's lips. Yeah, she really fucking did.

By the time they actually got to the drive-in they'd pretty much missed the first movie of the night, a Princess Bride, much to Sam and Lucky's dismay and it was strangely half empty, with no more than ten maybe twelve cars. The three girls sat in Sam's VW Bug with the top down, watching The Shinning, well they had been but the car's owner had went to pee almost forty minutes ago "that's it, I'm going to find her!"

"What, but it's almost over, can't we just wait until…" Lucky gave the blonde a tilting glare until she huffed and started climbing out of the car "Fine, but you know she probably just met someone at the snack stall or something."

"Probably, but let's just make sure she hasn't been hacked up behind a dumpster yeah?" Lucky shoved her arm through Kimmy's as she giggled "in this sweet little town, please. A place like this, the worst thing to probably ever happen is someone mowed their lawn an inch to short. It would probably have be headline news. "

Lucky laughed and fanned out the red velvet skirt she'd been forced into, her baby blues scanning the crowd until she spotted a bright blue bob near the back of the lot "I'm going to fucking kill her!"

Kimmy couldn't help her giggle as she was pulled along the small gaps of the cars "Told you so…"

"Sam!" Lucky just called out more than a little annoyed with her friend.

The blue haired girl turned around with a smile and her glittery brown eyes "there's my girls, just been talking about you."

"Somehow I doubt that." Kimmy sniggered more than aware of Sam's habit of forgetting pretty much everyone and everything when a nice piece of ass walked by.

Lucky through stopped when she saw a few familiar faces, most of them sporting leather clad serpents. One woman she didn't recognize was wearing an array of biker gear, bleached blonde hair and too much make up, Lucky didn't know her, but something about the older woman seemed familiar, that and the way she was gorping at the young girl.

"Lucky, so apparently you have like actual friends. I feel kind betrayed by this information."

"Fuck you Jimmy, what are you guys even doing here?" Jimmy and all his tattooed glory just shrugged, leaning back on some crappy old lawn chair "what? Delinquents can't enjoy a classic cinematic experience?"

The porcelain skinned girl held up her hands in defeat, nodding yet not totally convinced "whatever man, Joaquin around?"

She hadn't spoken to the boy in a day or so, he'd been pretty sketchy about so she didn't push. Lucky wasn't an idiot after all, she knew the serpents weren't just some biker gang, but as long as she doesn't get dragged into their shit she didn't much care.

"He is not, my fault I'm afraid."

All heads turned to see the cheeky tilted smirk, confident stance and dark brown eyes that brought the rest of the serpents around them to a standstill "Hey Lucky."

"FP" the brunette nodded in her own little hello, feeling strangely safer in the dark drive in now that she was surrounded by a band of snakes.

"Where do I get one of those?" Sam bit at her lip, eyeing the older man in lustful appreciation, Kimmy face palming with a groan as she lightly kicked at the other girl to stop it.

FP just raised a questioning brow, looking from the two strangers to Lucky and with a sip of the beer that had gone unnoticed till now he gestured towards the two girls "friends of yours?"

Looking back at the odd pair Lucky shrugged with a smirk tugging to escape "Nope, just some random's I paid to hang around to keep my dad off my back."

"Wait we're getting paid?" Sam asked playfully before shoving her way beside the brunette, dragging poor Kimmy with her "this pretty little thing is Kimmy Lomax and **I'm** Sam Hendrix, pleasure to meet you, handsome."

"Knock it off Sam, ignore her." Lucky kicked Sam a lot harder than she'd meant to, watching her friend hobble and groan in pain, said pain the only reason she didn't mention the jealous growl she'd definitely heard Lucky's voice.

FP just sniggers lightly; biting at his thumb to try and stifle it, which is until he sees something over. A mess of black hair hidden under a worn grey beanie "well it was nice meeting you girls but I'm a busy man… Lucky if you come around the Wyrm tomorrow Joaquin should be back by then. Bring your friends."

"I'm not sure it's really their scene." That wasn't totally true, or at all, going out and getting wasted was one the trio's favorite pastimes, Sam would be use her famine wilds to trick some idiot or another into buying the underage girls as many drinks as they could and Kimmy would love the music, not to mention the crowd at the Whyte Wyrm would be ripe for her little 'sleight of hand' card games. But something about them being there just didn't seem to set right with Lucky… hell if she had any idea why.

"Well the offers out there. See you around Kitten." FP winked over at her, before darting off to try and have some form of a conversation with his son.

"Lucky, girl something you want to tell us? Because yeah ' _damn_ '!" Sam laughed, playfully pulling at the brunette's shirt.

"Sam stop it, he's old enough to be all our fathers and besides, Lucky has Jake…" Kimmy's voice filled with a sharp bitterness at the boys name, nothing new to Lucky, the blonde had hated Jake since what had happened the year before… the events that led to Wayne moving them to the small town in the first place.

Sam just flipped back her blue locks with a slight scoff "yeah Jake, because he's just great boyfriend material."

Now that was new.

"What the fuck is that suppose to mean?"

Kimmy was biting at her lip, clearly not wanting to be involved while Sam rolled her eyes in brutal honesty "for fucks sake Lucky come on, when was the last time he called to ask you about what's going on in your life, huh? How you are? We see him every fucking day and he never even mentions you and it's not like you even care, I mean come on you haven't asked us about him once since we got here. Why the fuck are you even still dating the fuckboy?"

"Sam that's enough!" Kimmy finally stepped in, her anxious glare flittering from one girl to the other.

"Oh please said the girl who just fuck's anything with abs!" there it was, word vomit.

"Seriously? You know what why don't you go fuck yourself, you and your fucking frigid brother. Because yeah we all know why Suzie dropped his bitch ass!"

That was when it all went black and the next thing Lucky knew she was on top of Sam, her best friend, her hands having a death lock grip on those blue strands and slamming her head against the hard back pavement with each word "DON'T. YOU. FUCKING. TALK. ABOUT. MY. BROTHER. YOU. FUCKING. WHORE!"

"Lucky stop!" Kimmy pleaded from the sidelines just as Sam finally managed to cold cock her best friend in the stomach, pushing her onto the ground before straddling her waist, a thick trail of blood dripping down the side of her face as she punching her hard in the jaw.

The pair are pulled apart by a few different pairs of strong arms "Enough!"

There was a ringing in Lucky's ears as she spat out the blood that pooled into her mouth. It took a second to realize that it was FP who had broken up the fight, stood between the two girls that were now separated only by the serpents holding them back. And there was also some kid, big blue eyes and black hair under some crown cut beanie stood just to the side… who the hell was he?

Lucky's face felt like it was on fire as she and Sam glared daggers at each other. That is until the darker skinned girl wriggled out of the grip of her boy holding her back and stormed off towards her car. The rage was still potent in our girl's veins, she could hear it rushing around through her ears, taunted her to act, to hurt…

"Lucky." The voice was soft and light but it was so unsure, it took her a second to see those hazel eyes staring at her. Kimmy didn't know what to do; she never did when stuff like that happened.

"Go with Sam, finish the movie or whatever…"

"But what about you?" it must have been hard for her, but again this wasn't something she was a stranger to. Lucky just smiled, it made her look almost deranged with the glimmer of crimson against her pearly whites and her hair half loose and no doubt tattered.

"Don't worry about me; besides you sided with me last time remember… it's Sam's turn. I'll see you back at my place." It wasn't really up for discussion because at that Lucky turned and headed on her heel into the small crowd of serpents, throwing a small smile with blood still dribbling down her chin to FP who had made his way over to the boy in the denim jacket and grey beanie.

She watched them out of the corner of her eye before taking a seat on one of the old lawn chairs and snatching a beer out of the cooler one of them had been good enough to bring. FP and the boy didn't look to good, some sort of fight drown out by the movie. As the boy tried to leave the older serpent grabbed for his arm, only to be shrugged off and met with an icy glare and stern tone that barely reached Lucky's ears through clenched teeth "…you made your choice!"

FP watched after him, a strange longing in his eyes, then of course he strolled on over back to his brothers in arm's, snaking a beer from the cooler, downing half the bottle before finally realizing Lucky was in his seat.

He knelt down, perched up by the tip of his toes as his rough fingers grabbed at the supple flush on Lucky's jaw. He moved her head around slowly, inspecting the damage "now that's going to leave a mark. Violet!"

From nowhere a girl dressed like a fifties style greaser appeared, eyeing the older man and young bruised up girl "hand me your scarf."

She didn't even bat an eye, tearing the black bandana she's had around her neck and handed it to him with an almost sneer at Lucky. The two girls had never actually met but she'd seen Violet around, sporting the serpent logo, the girl didn't seem too thrilled about Lucky hanging around though.

FP took an icepack from the cooler, wrapped in the black clothe and held it lightly against the girls cheek "Here, it'll help with the swelling but that's going to bruise like a bitch."

"Yeah, Sam's got a great right hook for a leftie. Ow fuck." a smile pinched at the serpents lips before he let her take over holding the icepack, their fingers grazing lightly.

He popped open his third- no-fourth beer and took a seat beside her "So you going to tell me what all that was about?"

"She said some shit, I said some shit… we'll live." Her nonchalant attitude shocked him, it was almost like she didn't care but FP knew better, he's heard her talking to Joaquin about them, been around when they called and dropped everything. These girls mattered to her, so yeah her attitude was strange.

During FP's moments of refection Lucky pulled out the rest of her chestnut curls from the remains of the bun, then after a second she noticed the quiet and turned to see the concerned look in those big brown orbs "Oh relax, this shit isn't new."

"So you and your best friend regularly beat the crap out of each other?" naturally he was a little skeptical but Lucky just laughed it off with a sip of her beer, wincing slightly "no, not always. Look I and Sam have a thing; one of us says something the other doesn't like, the other one says something stupid, we scream it out, then it blows over…"

Safe to say FP didn't look to happy about that answer, so he just shook his head, taking a deep drink as Lucky pulled a lighter and a carton of cigarettes from her boot "that's pretty fucked up."

"Yeah, I know." She mumbled around the two cigarettes between those maroon and blood smudged lips, lighting them both and handing one to FP without a second thought.

He looked at the lipstick stain with a light chuckle, warm brown eyes fixing on the brunette girl, sipping at her beer and watching the movie as blood dried in the corner of her mouth as her creamy white cheek became spotted with growing shades of purple "You, Kitten, are one interesting girl."

"Keeps life from getting boring I guess."

A few hours later and the movie's had all but ended for the night, only a few stragglers left behind and that included some of the serpents and a certain little red VW Beetle. Lucky watched them for a second, her two best friends and she was about to go and talk to them, smooth things over, that is until the clattering of bottles echoed from behind her.

Lucky turned around to see FP had fallen off his rickety old chair and into the small mountain of beer bottles he'd collected and he was laughing at himself, the rest of the remaining serpents either to drunk not to join in the laughter, most of the younger ones had head home hours ago… it only just dawned on her that she was surrounded by a bunch of middle-aged bikers.

With a roll of her baby blue's Lucky rushed over to help the guy up, he gave her this dopy smile with glassy eyes "Lucky, hey K-kitten. What you still doing here?"

"I'm taking you home." She tried to lift him but just ended up dropping him back on his ass "It's good I'm good!"

"Yeah, because literally falling into the bottle, is so fucking good. Hey, you assholes mind giving me a hand here?" She snapped at the other who where just watching the young girl struggle.

In any other situation they might have had something to say, but Lucky had made a name for herself in her short time there and she was trying to help FP, so yeah, they pretty much rallied around. As they did that Lucky pulled out her phone;

 **To; Kimmy**

 **Taking my friend home, he's wasted, come pick me up after? Xoxo**

A few seconds later her cell buzzed in reply;

 **From; Kimmy**

 **Sure thing, love you. xoxo**

Once FP was finally on his feet Lucky pushed aside one of the serpents to take the older man's arm around her shoulder, trying everything in her little body to hold him up right. She managed to get him around the corner and lent against his truck as she huffed for breath "Okay, Key's."

FP was staring up at the sky, mumbling to himself so Lucky clicked her fingers in his face "FP, seriously where are your fucking key's man?"

"Wa-What?" was his only answer, he just looked at her confused and dazed in his drunken state "Oh for fucks sake, just try not to fall over."

Lucky slipped her hand just under his jacket, gripping the hip of his flannel shirt to tray and keep him steady as she riffled though his pockets, nothing in the jacket.

Her fingers where shoved into the back pocket of his jeans, pretty much cupping his ass. FP chuckled, losing his footing for just a second before grabbing onto Lucky's upper arms, Lucky's grip on his hip tightening as her other hand flies from the empty pocket to his chest "Whoa now, steady old timer."

He just chuckled again, and as Lucky's fingers delved into the pockets of his jeans she sighed in relief at the sharp feel of cold metal "Bingo!"

Then she felt a coarse thumb gently stroking at the uninjured side of her jaw. Lucky's eyes looked up to see those big brown orbs staring down at her; they looked almost black in the moonlight. He was watching her so intently she felt almost naked under his gaze "What?"

"You're just… so beautiful."

She watched his glassy stare, never once wavering from her own baby blues until she laughed "god you are so fucking wasted. Get in!"

He laughed with her, wobbling his way into the passenger seat as Lucky held open the door for him. She slammed it shut, making sure she hadn't trapped any of FP's digits or limbs and turned, almost having a small heart attack "Holy fucking smuff's on mars. Dude, what the fuck?"

"Sorry honey. I didn't mean to scare you." The older woman that had been staring earlier was stood not five feet away.

Lucky's hand was still over her heart "Well you did a piss pr job if that. You want something?"

The older woman took a shaky step closer "I'm Laura, you probably don't remember me."

"Any reason I should?" Lucky stood, hands on hips and getting more than a little impatient. A smile came to the crackling makeup of the blonde woman's face "your Rosie St Claire's girl right?"

Now that struck a chord, made all the bones in Lucky's body seize up "You knew my mom?"

"Yeah, way back when…." Laura was pretty much right in front of her now, her hand with her fake claw line nails hovering in mid air, almost reaching out to touch her "my god you look so much like her, except your eyes, got your daddy's eyes."

"Yeah… I did." Lucky didn't knew what to say, in all the weeks she'd been at Riverdale no one had even mentioned her mother, but with her father's lack of information over the years she just got used to it.

"Oh gosh, I've gone and spooked you." Laura looked genuinely upset about that but Lucky just shook herself from her own dazed state "Um, no, no, it just isn't a good time; got to get that sack of meat home."

Lucky nodded towards the truck and a smile crept onto the woman's face "oh, right, of course. It's good of you, helping FP out, not something your Mama would have done, she'd have laughed her ass off watching him crawl all over himself. Well I'll leave you to it."

Lucky felt a warm rush in her chest at that information, something new about her mother and as Laura turned on her platform heel a strange panic rushed through the young girl's veins "Wait!"

The blonde turned back with a questioning stare as Lucky stumbled over her words "this is going to sound fucking bizarre but what the fuck, could we talk, sometime about my mom, the old man's a little fickle on the topic."

A soft, sad smile tugged at the woman's lips as she pulled out a piece of paper and an eyeliner pencil from her sequin purse "Here's my number… it's good, that you don't hold it all against her…" Lucky's face fell in confusion but before she could get a word out the woman was gone.

Hold what against her?

What the fuck did that mean?

 **thump**

Lucky turned to see FP slumped against the window and laughed to herself before heading around the driver's side "My life is fucking weird!"

Thankfully Lucky remembered the few times she'd been to FP's trailer, usually taken there by Joaquin for one thing or another; honestly she never asked. It took more than a little work to get the door open and hoist him up but somehow she managed to do it "Honey I'm home."

A bitter, throaty chuckle escaped the drunken man as she shrugged out of his jacket, letting it pool to the floor "oh wait, she left me…"

"I didn't even know you were married." Lucky helped him over the sofa, watching as he almost molded into the soft worn cushions "was… gone now, even took my baby girl."

"Sorry." Was the only thing she could think of to say, I mean, come on what do you say in that situation. FP was just staring out at a picture on the wall; Lucky squinted and could just make out the picture in the dark room. It was of two young kids at the drive in, smiling ear to ear.

"Not your fault Kitten, it's on me, hell even my boy walked out… rather live in that damn booth than with me. Not that I blame him." The slight slurring of his words made it hard not to notice the pain they were drenched in, then that look from earlier returned, that sad longing as he's watched his sun sneer at this pleads to come home and shake his head in shame as he walked away "you know when Juggie was a kid, I mean real tiny, I used to walk through the front door and he'd run straight up to me, arms wide open; like he'd been waiting all day just for me."

A sad smile crept onto Lucky's face as she started unlacing FP's boots "Yeah, I used to be like that with my dad, we just grow out of it I guess."

"No, no not my boy. You see when he was born everyone figured he'd be chasing his mom's skirt tails, but it was me he'd stop fussing and crying for, I was the only one who could calm him. Hell I was out at a job for two days when he was what, four, Gladys was going nuts, he just kept screaming for me, wouldn't eat nothing, wouldn't sleep. Come running into my arms the second I walked through the door and spent the next week in our bed just in case I left again." It was a beautiful story, but the sad smile on his face almost broke Lucky's heart.

A stray tear fell from the crease of his eye as he bit back a sob "I screwed it up. I screwed it all to shit."

Lucky knelt on the floor beside the drunken broken man and shushed him softly, her silky-smooth hand gently brushing along the stubble of his cheek to soothe him "Hey, listen, it'll be ok… you've got time, so you fucked up or whatever. Just find a way to fix it."

"It aint that simple." He shook his head meekly, eyes half hooded as her feather light touch consoles him. Lucky offered him her own sad little smile, dragging her knuckle lightly over his warm cheek "Sure it is, you just have to want it bad enough."

His lip twitched into a weak smile, eyes now fully closed "sweet girl, think to god of me." his words trailed off at the end as sleep finally lured him away.

Lucky smiled as she watched him for a moment "yeah, well someone's got to."

She grabbed a few of the other cushions to prop him onto his side, placing a mop bucket she found in the kitchen near his head and throwing a knitted blanket she'd found over his limp body. After she was sure that he wouldn't choke on his own vomit she text Kimmy to come get her and waited on the trailer steps, one of FP's flannel shirts she'd found strewn across the back of a chair, pulled tight across her shoulders to help keep away the chill of the summer night air.

The lights of the car were almost blinding as Lucky pretty much jumped off the steps "thank god I'm fucking… oh, Hey."

It wasn't Kimmy that stepped out of the car; it was Sam, stood staring at her feet and arms folded around her chest, a large band aid barely covering the cut on her head "Kimmy made me come. And your dad's a little pissed."

"Shocker… so… Sam you I didn't like… mean that shit right?" it wasn't something that came naturally to Lucky, actually apologizing to people.

Sam kicked at a stone lightly, shrugging defiantly "I meant what I said… except the shit about Adam."

"Yeah what's up with that? What's Suzie been saying?" it was strange; the two of them had been so in sync, so in love, the classic high school sweet heart bullshit.

Sam bit at her lip anxiously "it nothing, just some shitty rumors."

"Sam, come on…"

At the pleading look in Lucky's eye the blue haired girl caved "Fine, look I don't know who said what shit ok? I just heard that he was pretty against the sex stuff, at first she thought he was being sweet then after they actually did it… I don't know just that he never wanted to fuck and she did and everyone thinks he's gay."

"Adam? Seriously?" Lucky didn't quite believe that, I mean she'd found a bunch of porno's in his room once when she was snooping for cash… none of it was men.

Sam held up her hands and shrugged "that's all I know… now we can we go, my nipples are about to freeze over."

"Yeah… we good?" Lucky eyed the girl sheepishly.

"How bad does your face hurt?"

"A fucking lot!"

A smile broke out on Sam's dimpled cheeks "then yeah; were good."

Lucky all but raced into her best friends arms, holding onto her close and tight, rocking slightly before jumping into the warm leather seat of the car.

The two girls singing loud and proud to the radio the entire drive home.

They pulled up to the little blue house and skipped through the front door without a care in the world, all harsh words and bloodied fists forgotten. Then as saw the small crowd in the living room Lucky felt her heart almost stop.

"Jake?"

 **Hey guys sorry about the delay but life calls at the most inconvenient times. Anyway I'd like to give a little thanks to everyone who's commented/reviewed on this it pretty much keeps it alive and also a special shout out the theserpentgod who gave me a nice idea for this chapter and her love for the story warms my heart. All my love people! xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

Lucky being surprised was a fucking understatement.

Last night when she walked into to see that lean, tall boy, with those Bowie like mismatched blue and green eyes, her heart almost stopped dead in her chest; there he was, Jake Carter. It all rushed back like a tidal wave through her chest, the first time he made her laugh, when he asked her out by passing cute notes with tick boxes, how he punched one of his brothers for calling her a nutcase then took her dancing, how easy it had always been to love him… but with those memories came that one, the one that made them all a little dimmer and the last year a little harder to be near him. To look at him. To love him.

Wayne had invited him as a last minute surprise, yeah like I said; understatement.

He had always liked Jake, but still made him sleep in the study… obviously.

Then there was breakfast, the kitchen was jam packed with bodies, Adam and Wayne talking about finally getting him a car, both with a half mouth full of pancakes, Sam was stealing her third round of bacon from the middle plates, Kimmy more than happy with her Branflakes while Sarah ran around making sure everyone was fed.

Lucky though was sat opposite Jake, who was absently shoveling eggs into his face like it was his very last meal. Lucky wasn't sure what she was meant to do, she forgot how good looking he was… bleached blonde and perfectly tan, those almost black eyebrows with a spike shoved though them and that amazing, perfect snaggletooth smile that had made her strike the yes box on that note once upon a time.

But that was then, and now? Well something just didn't feel right, like a weight was pressing on her gut. She just couldn't stop staring at him "Lucky, honey you're not hungry?"

The blue eyed teen snapped out of her daze just long enough to see the food on her plate remained untouched "Oh, sorry Sarah, I guess I'm just not that hungry this morning."

"You feeling ok, sweetie?" Sarah sweetly loved a few stray hairs out of her stepdaughters face, a look of concern clear in her eyes.

Lucky just smiled meekly "Yeah, peachy, just had too much last night I guess."

Sarah didn't believe her at all but nodded and turned back to actually make her own breakfast. Lucky went back to scanning the table, her father was sat in a nice suit, now laughing with Jake, who was getting more than a few fiery glares from across the table, Kimmy, even Sam, that's normal, but Adam…

Something didn't feel right at all. It was like a beginning rumbling's of a storm was churning inside her.

Something was just wrong.

"I'm going to get dressed…"

As Lucky moves back, her chair scrapping lightly against the floor Wayne snaps up and comes to pull her aside "Lucky, hey sweetie, here…"

He handed her a slip of paper and a small empty pill bottle; her name, not Lucky, the one she'd gotten so used to over the years, her real name, plastered on the side "Dad…"

"Look, you're growing up, hell your Seventeen in a few weeks, you should be able to refill your own prescription." Lucky stared into those reflective blue eyes and cocked a brow "are you high? Hit your head?"

Wayne chuckles lightly before smiling, taking her soft hands in his "I know this last year has been pretty hard, on all of us, I know I can be… too much, but it's because I love you, your my little girl. I guess… it's just hard to remember you're not _actually_ a little girl anymore. I need to start trusting you, and I'm going to try."

A smile crept onto her face and Lucky couldn't stop herself if he'd tried as her arms threw themselves around her father's neck "thank you."

"Just, don't let me down. Okay?" and he had to ruin it.

Wayne was less than sure about the whole thing; he knew she needed it though, needed something and he was trying, so very hard… to let go of the past.

I guess he gets points for that.

Lucky was just getting dressed, back into the comfort of her ripped black jeans, a black cassette tape Nirvana t-shirt and just as she was lacing up her boots when the bedroom door creaked, her baby blues shot up to see it, that perfect snaggletooth smile "Hey babe."

Jake was leaning on the doorframe in the most arrogant pose you can imagine "my dad finds you in here he'll draw blood." Lucky just carried on lacing up her boots.

"Please your dad loves me." He chuckled lightly, pushing himself into the room and started poking around, clearly bored and just snooping when he sees the pin board on her wall. It was covered with magazine clothes clipping, photo's and sketches, Jake recognized some of the pictures, the sketches though are kind of vague, a swing set with dead vines, a toon style mocking of her dad, an intricate, detailed sketch of some bathroom, a snake smiling with shaded green eyes, a few half hearted a tempts at recreating the image of her mother, then he noticed a drawing in the far corner, almost completely covered by surrounding pieces of paper.

He carefully moved them to get a better look; it was a pair of eyes. So intricate and detailed you'd think they were going to jump out of the page, you didn't even need the rest of the features to know they were the eyes of someone smiling, but there was something else there, something intense and dark… the perfectly drawn brown eyes looked almost black, like they knew you "Fuck, you're getting really good."

Lucky's head shoots up to see what picture he's talking about and tries not to think about how she wants to snatch it away from him "yeah, practice you know."

Jake watches her, how her chestnut curls fall effortlessly around her face and smiles, taking a seat beside her on the bed, nudging her thigh with his own playfully. Jake leans in, pecking at her shoulder, staring at her face "want to show me how much you missed me?"

"Knock it off, my dad's down stairs." Lucky tried to shrug him off, but then she made the worst mistake, she looked at him.

His mismatched eyes were focused on wholly on her lips, plump and pink, nibbling lightly on his own at the memory of how soft they were, it was a thing she had always fallen for. So as his gaze finally tore from her lips he watched her eyes, smirking wickedly as a defiant smile broke out onto those pink lips of hers "you're such an asshole."

"Isn't that kind of why you love me?" at his playful tone an empty, guilty feeling echoed around in Lucky's chest as she leaned into finally meet his lips after so long apart.

"Hey, guys… Oh…" the door creaked fast and the Sam stood with a smirk rising to her cheeks, their lips had barely ghosted over each other as she came in, causing Jake to glare daggers at the blue haired girl.

"Sorry to interrupt but Sarah and your dad are about to leave and said they'd drop us at some place called Pop's?" Lucky just smiled as she pushed herself off the bed, perching over her vanity and brushing her lips with a fresh coat of blood red gloss.

"Let's go loser's" Lucky smiled, strutting out of the room with a swing of her hips. Sam lingered behind for a second, Jake glaring at the girl as she returned the stare with a fold of her arms. Jake didn't like the look she was giving him "what? Do I got a TV on my head or something?"

"Why did you come here, Jake? Not like you give a flying fuck about Lucky?" Jake all but flew off the bed, towering over the mocha skinned girl as he sneered "You don't know shit!"

"I know you…"

"Sure you do Sammy." He smirked cruelly, leaning his body into her, forcing Sam to back up and out of his way as the fake blonde boy chuckled past her.

"Fucking asshole!"

When they jumped out at Pop's both Sarah and Wayne smiled at them so brightly "have fun kids, Lucky don't forget to get to the pharmacy ok?"

"For fuck's sake dad, for the fifth time, I won't forget, okay? Relax!" Lucky groaned and headed inside the dinner. Adam smiling with a shake of his head as he follows her inside.

Jake smirked through the car window and melted into that buttery charm of his "don't worry Mr. March; I'll make sure she gets it."

"Thank you, Jake, take care of her for me ok?" Wayne let out a relieved breath before slowly turning the car around, Jake calling after him "You got it, sir."

He turned to see Kimmy and Sam glaring at him and shrugged innocently "what?"

"You're such a cretin." Kimmy sneered at the other blonde.

"Fuck you prissy little…"

"Hey, if you want your teeth to remain in your head you better shut your mouth! We're here for Lucky remember? So stop with this shit, she doesn't need it." Sam glared at both her friend and Jake, before walking into the brightly lit diner.

Kimmy was hot on her heels as Jake followed looking almost like a kicked puppy.

Lucky was sat in a far booth at the back of the diner with her step-brother; Pop's already delivered their milkshakes and taken their orders by the time the others finally joined them. Jake eyed the place with a sneer "Seriously? This is where we're hanging out?"

Adam was picking at the extra cherries from his chocolate shake as he eyed the menu "This is where we're eating, I recommend the burgers."

"Doesn't seem so bad, Lucky do you like hang here a lot?" Kimmy slapped on her best smile, inching as far from Jake as humanly possible.

"Not really, food's good though." The brunette didn't look up from her phone once as she spoke. It was good food, one of the best burgers that had ever graced her taste buds, but the cheese fries at the Wyrm were way better.

"I still don't get why we couldn't just bring my car and who exactly is your fine ass texting?" Sam asked with a giggle, hoping to god it was someone of interest in the boring down.

"Our ride, my dad dropped us off so we wouldn't wander into the bad side of town." Lucky finally smiled as her and Adam's food arrived, Lucky slapping away Jake's ring covered fingers as he tried to snatch one of her fires.

"So where the fuck are we actually going?" Jake groaned, already bored of the small town and its lack of entertainment as the other two girls ordered their food.

Lucky smiled brightly, teasing a fry against her lips "the wrong side of town. Obviously."

A half hour later various heads in the diner turned to the window's as the approaching engines come into full view, at least four motorcycles along with a beat up old Chevy pull up to the lot. Lucky starts pushing past her step-brother and heads for the door when she sees something across the other side of the diner, a crown shaped beanie sat on top of silky black hair, blue eyes staring tiredly into a black coffee.

The boy from the Twilight.

The one with the angry frown and the sad eyes.

Jughead Jones.

FP's son.

"Babe, you know that guy?" Jake asks, eyeing the boy skeptically with a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Lucky blinks back to reality with a shake of her head "Nope" she popped the 'p' as her boots carried her outside, leaving Jake to eye the stranger before he followed after his girlfriend.

"Hey Lucky." A lean tattooed boy smirked, sat waiting as his Harley hummed beneath him.

"I gotta make a pit stop before we head to the Wyrm." Lucky swung a leg over the back of Jimmy's bike, snatching the spare scorpion patterned helmet from the back net.

"Whoa, what the fuck Lucky? What you just jump on the back of some guys bike?"

Jake was clearing starting the seethe with jealousy, making Sam and Adam laugh while Kimmy eyed him like you would a rabid dog with no teeth. Lucky just rolled her baby blues as the other bikers laughed at the boy's tantrum "chill the fuck out okay? These are my friends, Kimmy, you and Sam are in the car with Mona, Jake your riding with Luke and Adam-"

"Go meet my friends and cover if your dad calls?" Adam's green orbs smiled over to his sister, happy to play along thanks to the twenty bucks she'd snuck him that morning.

"Why am I stuck in the chick mobile?" Sam snapped with a fold of her arms and making Jake start bitching again "and why the fuck am I playing bitch on the back of some random guys fucking tricycle?"

Lucky wrapped her arms around Jimmy's waist with a chuckle and called out as he peeled out of the parking lot "you fucking know damn well why!"

Lucky directed Jimmy to the small, dainty little pharmacy on the edge of the town square. He watched over his shoulder while her chestnut curls bounce free as she pulled off the helmet "what you need to stock up on condoms for the fuckboy?"

"None of your fucking business pretty boy." Her blood red lips curled as she sashayed into the small store.

Jimmy watched her through the window, saw her nervously tapping her black chipped nails and her bright big eyes looking around, almost like she was scared someone would see. That's what made him curious, made him wonder why she was actually there, why the clerk seemed to instantly know what the porcelain girl had walked in for… it made his lip twitch slightly.

Lucky always seemed to do this to him. Leave him wondering.

"What the fuck are you smiling at?" he didn't even notice she'd come out of the store until her baby blues was staring at him.

Jimmy just laughed with a shake of his head, reaching out to hand her the spare helmet "Nothing."

"Well its creepy as shit so knock it off!" she snatched the helmet from his hand before climbing onto the back of his bike.

"Yes Ma'am."

They pulled up to the bar just as the sky was just starting to tint that sweet pink shade. Jake was stood outside with a cigarette firmly between his lips, clearly pissed off as he storms over to the approaching motorbike "what the fuck Lucky?"

"What's crawled up your ass?"

"Mind your damn business, ok Elvis? And stay the fuck away from my girl while you're at it." Jake was more than pissed off and clearly looking for a fight.

So Lucky did the only thing she knew for a fact calmed him down and shut him the fuck up. Her glossed lips crashed onto his and Jake blinked for a second before slowly parting his lips as her sweet tongue brushed against his lower lip for entrance. The kiss lasted no more than a moment but still managed to earn the teens a few wolf whistles and an uncomfortable stance from Jimmy, who was rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

When Lucky pulled back to see Jake's mismatched eyes, that she'd once adored, flutter open and that snaggletooth smile slips into play she knew the fuse had been drowned with her kiss "Now stop fucking bitching before I kick your nuts up into your throat."

Jake shot Jimmy a smug smile, throwing his arm around the brunette and heading inside the bar.

Lucky was felt a sort of weight lift as she stepped inside the Whyte Wyrm; her home away from home. She spotted her two best friends in a booth near the corner, surrounded by a few of the usual suspects Lucky had come to know in the small town bar; Sam was perched on Kip's lap – a man old enough to be her father. Kimmy was smushed in the corner but instead of blushing and biting at her nails like you'd expect, her and Mona, the girl with the black bobbed hair and snake tattoo slithering up her swan like neck, were playing some sort of card game "so, which one of you fucktard's is buying the first round."

The time flew before their eyes and everyone seemed to be actually enjoying themselves, that is until Lucky noticed a small almost fight break out, not that she paid too much attention to the strange, redheaded boy, that some of the older serpents where pretty much manhandling out of the club. Mostly because she'd spotted a certain someone through the masses, stood near the bar and snaking a beer before Viper noticed.

"Hey stranger."

Joaquin turned to his friend with a wincing smile, his lip was split and bruised; his left eye was swollen and tarnished in purple and black "what the holy fuck happened to you?"

Again the serpent smiled slightly, shrugging "don't worry about it, come here, haven't seen you in days."

Joaquin pulled her into a quick tight embrace, but she was still pretty pissed "yeah, and look what happens! I'm going to fucking skewer some bitch for this!"

A low laugh rumbled from not just Joaquin but also from behind her, now usually when Lucky saw those big brown eyes she felt a calm wash over her, usually.

The ivory skinned beauty stood stern with a fold of her arms "what the fuck are you laughing at? Have you seen his face? Huh? You're damn fucking lucky I don't throat punch you right this-"

"Relax Kitten, It's been dealt with." FP just smirked that lopsided smile at her mother-hen reaction.

All that anger instantly melted away, you could actually see it fade from her body as her arms fell to her hips and her baby blues softened "Oh, ok then, I'm going to grab a smoke then I'm kicking your asses at some pool so get ready to lose your money ladies!"

The two serpents shared a coy smile, watching after the curly haired brunette… and maybe a pair of dark brown eyes lingered a little too long on her ass.

But that was just a moment of dazed madness.

Lucky was lighting up outside, surprised it was still light out and squinting lightly against the summer sun. As she cupped her hand around the flame to light her cigarette Lucky noticed something very out of place.

Red Hair and a preppy, well loved, letterman jacket.

The boy was all color and brightness, he definitely didn't belong in that part of town "Hey, if I were you I'd get lost before those guys figure out you didn't take the hint."

His eyes snap over to her and Lucky pretty much regretted opening her mouth instantly "hey, I've seen you before, you work at the new bakery right?"

"Under protest, but yeah." She took a long drag of her smoke, already feeling him getting closer and wanting to finish her cig and head back in before she got sucked into this kid's drama.

"And you hang out here?" he looked like a kicked puppy, a kicked puppy that could see a rifle pointed at his attackers head.

Damn, hope was annoying; can't everyone just realize everything is fucked and just get on with it?

"Listen, I know you don't know me but, please, I need to speak to the Serpent's boss?"

"Right, good luck with that kid." Lucky was pretty much ready to smash out her half smoked cigarette and just abandon the boy and his thug-life dreams right there in the parking lot.

Her back was turned, smoke stomped out under her boot, fingers just tugging at the door handle, she was free and clear, and drama avoided.

"My girlfriend's pregnant!"

Damn it.

A heavy sigh escaped Lucky's ruby glossed lips as she rolled her baby blues and almost smashed her head against the door for not going through it "and what the fuckball's does that have to do with FP?"

"I need money, I have stuff to sell, real silverware, some old jewelry; please I just want to take her and our baby away from this messed up town, start over. Please… I'll do anything…" He looked so honestly fucking desperate and Lucky inwardly cringed at the way it tugged at her heart strings.

"Damn it all to fuck… just wait here yeah." A hopeful smile broke out on the red haired boys face, Lucky, however, was cursing under her breath the entire way back into the bar.

What she didn't notice was a small pill bottle falling from her jacket pocket.

"Hey wait!" Jason called after her to be met with the Bar door slamming shut in his face, pills in hand.

Lucky was rounding the crowd near the pool table where FP and Jimmy were playing pool, Jake and Sam were playing darts with Joaquin, who the blue haired, mocha skinned girl was shamelessly flirting with, with no idea that she was the other end of the spectrum from his type. Kimmy was sat with a small pile of cash and a few annoyed looking serpents.

That girl and cards, not a good combo.

"FP!"

Dark brown pools snapped over to the brunette girl with a small frown, he instantly set aside the pool cue and marched over to Lucky "What's up?"

"Did you see the ginger kid that got thrown out? Well, he wants quick cash and is waiting for yours truly outside."

A chuckle rumbled from low in the gruff man's throat "and why the hell am I going to lend a hand to some Bulldog brat?"

"Because he made me feel all fucking bad for him and shit…" FP's eyes widened ever so slightly at that little confession. Lucky bit the inside of her cheek and kicked him lightly in the shin, because let's face it if she wanted to hurt him he'd be limping "Stop fucking gawping at me and go talk to the fire crotch before I throat punch you."

FP holds his hands up in mock surrender "alright, I'll talk to the kid… Joaquin!"

"Seriously, aren't you old enough to talk to strangers on your own yet?" Lucky laughed in the serpent leader's face, there it was again, that sweet smug smile as those rough hands moved to capture her chin between his thumb and forefinger playfully "just need him to back me up, never know when the pigs will try playing in the snake pit."

Lucky watched Joaquin follow FP outside, totally and completely unaware of the mismatched eyes that were staring at her the moment she stepped up to the group.

A pair of strong arms rounded her waist and Lucky didn't jump at all, hadn't been too focused on how the muscles under FP's flannel shirt flexed as he walked "you good babe?"

She turned her head to look at him and smiled weakly "peachy… you want a game?"

"Sure…"

Jake tried not to notice how she wriggled out of his arms like he was an open flame, how the first time she'd kissed him since he got to the stupid town had been to shut him up, or that that old biker guy had every detail of his eyes sketched out on his girlfriend's wall.

Joaquin stood near the side alley entrance to the bar, watching out for anything out of place in their slightly dimmer side of town, while FP had a word or two with the preppy.

Now that was a kid that definitely didn't belong this side of the tracks; maybe that's why FP's face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw how desperate he was for quick cash, a plan already forming in the older Serpents head.

Joaquin didn't like the kid, he was too… clean, to boy next door; maybe that's why FP was so keen to reel him in, a clean cut kid like that could get away with almost anything or maybe he did it just because Lucky had asked.

"Joaquin, we're done here. Three days kid… don't disappoint." FP said; all business and slightly threatening, as he gave a small nod to the two, extremely different, boys and retreated back into the smoky old bar he'd known as home.

Joaquin was about to head inside when the stranger in his letterman jacket and perfectly combed hair spoke up "hey, you know that girl? The one that got him to talk to me?"

Joaquin didn't speak, just nodded mutely with a glare. He watched as Jason fished something from his jacket pocket and handed it to the serpent "She dropped these, they seem kind of important; but that's just a guess on account of I couldn't pronounce it."

Joaquin took the bottle and read the bold printed words loudly in his head.

 _What the hell were these for?_

 _What was Lucky doing with them?_

 _Why did she need them?_

"And tell her I said 'thanks'." Joaquin was snapped from his own thoughts as he watched the boy leave…

"Sure."

What Joaquin found when he got back into the Bar didn't shock him, the look on FP's face gave him a moment of pause though. Lucky was at the pool table with Jake stood behind her, pretending to try and show her how she should take the shot when really he was just grinding his dick into her ass.

FP had a small collection of shot glasses, three of them already empty as he downed the fourth, eyes never leaving the young couple by the pool table "ok Boss?"

"Why the hell wouldn't I be?" FP turned to his rising star in the serpent ranks as he took another shot.

Joaquin wasn't blind; he could see them, the sweet passing glances and snappy remarks. They didn't know it, had no fucking clue it was even happening but Joaquin did, not that he'd ever say the words out loud.

After all keeping his mouth shut about shit he shouldn't have noticed in the first place was kind of his superpower; it's what made him useful to a man like FP Jones.

"I'll get us some food." Joaquin spoke absently, hoping the older man would actually eat some of it and not get too wasted that night.

Sam was having less of a good time as the minutes passed, sure the place was full of ass but what was bugging her was the way Jake kept tugged and touching Lucky, like she was some sort of prize. The blue haired girl knew exactly why he was doing it, after all, jealousy is a very powerful motivator.

So Sam shoved her way to the pool table, pulling on Lucky's hand through Jakes grip and tugged her onto the dance floor without a word, somehow managing to grab Kimmy up from her third game of poker.

Lucky didn't think much of it as her and her two best friends swayed with her to the music. But she did feel the glare; Jake was stood near the pool table sipping at a beer he'd swiped from one table or another. FP was at the table not far behind; nursing a whiskey as both their eyes traveled to the same direction.

Lucky's hips moved the beat of some old song she didn't know, not caring as her and her friends brushed against each other… it wasn't until the third song ended and the dark haired girl tried to head back over that she was shocked with a pang of confusion "Where are you going? Come on Luck, dance with us."

"Sam I love you, but my fucking feet are about to fall off." Sam wanting to dance wasn't the big shock, the shock was that she hadn't even hooked some guy already to dance with her…. Then do more than dance.

Lucky slid into the booth beside FP, who looked just a touch tipsy with half a plate of cheese fries that she was pretty sure Joaquin had more of than his boss. Just as she was moving to snag one of the beer bottles on the table Jake slinked into the booth beside our brunette, a shit eating grin on his face as he kissed her, eyeing FP as he did "You good babe?"

"Yeah, Sam's trying to dance me to death, throw some hot coals in there and I'd think I was in that pussy-bitch story Cinderella." She took a long sip of the beer letting it cool her sweat glistened ivory skin.

"Didn't she have a shoe?"

"The original stories ain't as pretty as the Disney versions, _boy_." FP corrected Jake, who chose then to snake his arm around Lucky's waist, tugging her slightly closer as he laughed "didn't realize you went for fairy tales, _old timer_ …"

"For fuck's sake, don't start this shit, you two want a pissing contest I'm sure there's a wall out back." Lucky sneered, sipping at her beer as Jake kissed her cheek "I'm going to get me and my girl some real drinks."

"Viper won't serve you booze!" Joaquin said it before anyone else could chip in.

Jake just laughed, running a hand through those bleached locks as he smirked: "Hey, I have my ways…"

Lucky watched as he disappeared into the crowd and turned back to punch FP in the arm "The fuck?"

"Me? The fuck with me? No, the fuck, you! Seriously since when did you become a mean drunk?"

Those chocolate orbs fixed on her baby blues and in his daze, the older man sneered "I don't like him."

"So what you're my dad now?" Lucky growled back at the older man.

FP slammed his bottle down on the table making both the teenagers beside him jump as the glass shattered and the golden liquid flooded table top. FP grabbed her arm roughly with a sneer "that fucking asswipe doesn't give a shit about you, he wants to own you… you're his trophy, his wild little bitch with a sweet wet pussy to brag about."

The echo of the slap radiated off the walls "Fuck you! You're just a pathetic bitch, no wonder your entire family wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire."

"Babe, what's going on?" Jake was stood with two honey colored liquids that he no doubt swiped from some random table.

Lucky just grabbed his hand and shouted: "Girls, come on we're getting the fuck out of here!"

Sam and Kimmy popped their heads up in utter confusion, Kimmy collecting her winning for the night and Sam sliding off Jimmy's lap to follow Lucky as she marched out of the bar, never looking back once.

"Lucky what's wrong?" Kimmy asked in her sweet voice, throwing a look to Sam like maybe she knew.

Sam just shrugged and marched out after the couple, more than a touch concerned at the tear smudged makeup she could see on her best friend's furious face.

Once the cool dusk air hit her Lucky felt it, like Wolverine had punched her through the gut she noticed Kimmy was on her phone, wondering who she was calling but not caring enough to ask, she was in a daze. Sure FP had been an asshole sometimes, but never like that…

It hurt more than she was willing to ever admit.

It was only when the heated wool of Jakes jacket brushed her shoulders had she realized she was shaking. She smiled into his blue and green eyes, tightening his jacket over her shoulders "Thanks."

"Hey, it what boyfriends are for right? Forget that old bastard, he was creepy as fuck anyway, I mean what forty-year-old man hangs around with a high school chick? That's fucked up…" his smile fell ever so slightly "Fuck, I think I left my wallet."

He was gone with the flash of light, not bothering to say another word before darting back into the bar.

Lucky rolled her eyes with a small shake of her head, typical Jake "Lucky I called us a cab… shouldn't be too long okay?"

"Thanks, Kimmy." The two girls shared a smile as Sam took a step forward "so you going to tell us why we bolted out of there like the place was on fire."

"Can we not… please." The look of defeat on Lucky's face is the only thing that made Sam back down, that and Kimmy nudging the darker skinned girl "just leave her alone Sam."

Lucky decided to take a seat on the curb, get a little distance from her and the bar… FP… but just before her ass could hit the floor something buzzed in her pocket, without thinking she took the phone out of her pocket, Jake's pocket and her heart fell out of her chest at what she saw "what the…"

Back in the bar, Joaquin was glaring daggers at his boss, who had now moved from the soaked table that was covered in glass to the bar "for fuck's sake stop it!"

Joaquin shook his head "seriously? Why did you have to go and say all that shit?"

"I didn't say nothin' that wasn't true." FP just stared ahead of him, sipping at the whiskey he more than needed, because the beer just wasn't cutting it.

"That's beside the point, true or not, it wasn't your fucking place." Joaquin couldn't help himself; he saw the look on her face as FP spoke so harshly to her, like she'd been slapped.

FP looked at his young serpent in mild shock "maybe not, but you better remember yours kid! And remember who the fuck you're talking to."

Joaquin wasn't sure what he was going to do in that moment, submit or rebel, either way, he didn't get the chance because Jake strolled up beside them with a shit eating grin on his face, shoving his wallet into his ass pocket.

"What are you still doing here?"

"Oh come on, the better, younger, prettier man won. Don't be a sore loser." FP gritted his teeth as the boy just smiled proudly "And what exactly is it you think you won kid, a woman who's only with you out of some fucked up sense loyalty. She doesn't love you; she just doesn't know it yet."

Jake chuckled bitterly, leaning into the bar "wrong, Lucky is my girl and either way, I'm still the one who's cock she'll be riding tonight. And those cute, sexy little noises she makes…"

It was like a flash of light had moved the clocks forward because before FP knew what was happening he had the kid by the scruff of his shirt, pinned to the floor and punching the pretty right out of his face.

"FP! Stop!" it took Viper, Kip and Joaquin to pull him off just for Jake, now with blood streaming out of his mouth and nose and who'd rudely left half a fang on the floor of the bar, to scurry away like a spider about to be crushed by a big ass boot.

The weathered serpent wouldn't have been able to stop himself if he'd tried, his feet carrying out the door before he knew what was happening; Joaquin calling after him with a few other serpents trying to stop him from doing anything even more stupid.

When he got outside the fresh air hit him like a tidal wave, and he was wondering just how drunk he was when he saw the small brunette, with those perfect baby blues, shapely curves and cheeky smile screaming at the top of her lungs in her blue haired friends face.

Joaquin rushed outside to see the same sight, seriously confused.

Lucky hadn't noticed Jake or the others rush out of the bar, the tears blurring her vision "How fucking could you, you fucking slut!"

"I don't know what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Babe, what are you doing? Stop fucking around; we need to call the cops that crazy old bastard… Ow, Lucky what the fuck?!" Jake's nose gushed twice as much blood as before, his lean body hitting the hard concrete like a bag of potatoes.

"My best friend, seriously, I mean any other girl in the fucking world, yeah sure, but my best fucking friend? What the holy fuck is wrong with you?" Lucky screamed, standing over her boyfriend in a fit of range.

Sam stood still, trying to grasp everything that was happening "Slow down and tell me what the fuck you're talking about."

Tears flooded down Lucky's rage flushed cheeks as she read out the text " _Yo man, you going to tap Lucky's girl again? Maybe ask her to join in this time? Don't forget to dish the dirt._ "

A new flash of rage flooded through not just FP, but Joaquin and a few of the other serpents stood in the background at the sight of that strong, defiant, crazy girl stood looking like a blubbering mess.

Lucky turned to Sam, her eyes glistening bright with tears "Him I get… but you…"

"Lucky I swear I didn't touch him, I would never… please, you have to believe me. Why would I do that? Why would I…"

"I'm sorry…" the voice glided through the evening air as barely a whisper.

Each head slowly turned to the pretty little blonde girl who had been silently sobbing to herself, her eyes filled with fear and regret "Kimmy…"

Sam looked between her two best friends, disbelief soaring through her "No, no way… you hate Jake, you've hated him ever since… oh my god."

"What? What else am I fucking missing here?" Lucky screeched.

Kimmy couldn't do it, couldn't meet her best friends heartbroken gaze.

"The night you got taken to the ER, you two had that fight…"

"Jake!"

"What? She knows Kimmy, it's over… for fuck's sake." the boy stood on shaky knees, trying to slow the blood that had consumed his shirt.

Lucky couldn't breathe, couldn't move, her head was swimming laps a mile a minute and she just couldn't get all the information up to make sense… then it hit her, all at once and much too hard.

She turned to Jake with a fresh wave of tears "wait, so let me get this right… while I was oding on the coke you gave me, you were getting your dick wet inside one of my best fucking friend's?!"

He had the decency to actually look ashamed… until he opened his mouth "Lucky, babe I'm sorry ok? But I never forced that shit up your nose and she came onto me!"

"Liar!"

"Me? I'm an asshole but you're a whore!"

It was Joaquin who hit him that time, hauling him by the shirt "Shut the fuck up and get out of here!"

Sam was still in shock, still glance from Kimmy to Lucky, and back again, was this seriously happening?

Jake barely spared a glance to his girlfri-sorry-ex-girlfriend as he limped away into the night. Kimmy rushed over to her betrayed friend, grabbing at her arms "please, Lucky, I was drinking, I was mad and I made the biggest mistake of my life. Please forgive me, please I love you so much and I'll do anything…"

Lucky didn't move. Didn't speak, just stared at the pleading blonde with tear after tear rolling down her cheeks "Lucky, please, say something! Scream at me! Do-do you want to hit me? Fine, hit me, god knows I deserve it… Lucky?"

"Who are you? How could you do this to me? " each word was broken by a small sob as the tears washed away the last of her makeup.

"Please, please Lucky…" but Kimmy's words fell on deaf ears as Lucky brushed of her pleading fingers like her touch actually burned the already tender flesh.

Lucky backed away, ran to the safety of the dark she loved so much. Kimmy going to take a step forward until Sam stepped into her path. Her face was stone, her lip trembling with rage and tears of her own threatening to spill "back the fuck up… I know that fucker was up to something, was pretty sure he'd been banging Suzie, but you? God, you really do the whole innocent act better than I thought."

"Sam, you have to understand!"

"Just go, Kimberly." Sam's voice was cold, broken only by an almost sob.

Kimmy couldn't stop crying, she'd ruined it, everything, the way they looked at her made the blonde girl want to crawl out of her own skin. She backed up just as the cab arrived… convenient "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Joaquin came up to Sam pinching lightly as he touched her arm "we should go find Lucky, can't leave her out there like that."

"We'll take my truck… Joaquin, you drive. She can't have gotten far." FP piped up after standing in complete shock as the events unfolded and forced him to sober up slightly.

Now though she was out there, alone and broken and he needed to make sure she was safe.

At least she had her shoe's on this time.

Lucky wasn't too sure what street she'd ended up on, but she knew it was still southside by the wire fences and imperfect lawns. She'd stopped running, just walked around holding onto herself, that is until she realized she was still wearing Jake's jacket and had his phone.

It was the bright light that led them to her, over near the park was a small trash can burning brightly, Lucky sat staring at as the flames ate the fine leather jacket and crackled against the electricity of the phone, she played absently with her Zippo.

"Lucky?"

She turned to the three figures, forced a smile on her face "hey guys, bring any marshmallows?"

"Come on, let's get out of here." Joaquin and Sam went over to try and stand her up, but her knees were weak.

She was shaking, from the cold, the adrenaline, rage or heartache not even Lucky could have told you, but FP didn't blink in shrugging off his serpent jacket and fixing it on her pale shoulders "there, better?"

Sam and Joaquin stood either side as Lucky stared blankly into FP's dark eyes "you were right…"

A pang of guilt tugged in his chest as FP moved a curl behind her ear, brushing his knuckles lightly over her soft, cold cheek "No, I was a drunk asshole… let's get you home, 'k Kitten."

Her only response was a weak smile as she leaned into Sam's comforting touch while they walked over to the truck.

The drive was silent but for the low hum of the radio, everyone glancing over every minute or two to Lucky who just stared absently out of the window.

Lucky March being quiet was a scary thing indeed.

They pulled up outside the little blue house and Lucky just got out, mumbling thanks as the door slammed behind her; Sam following close behind.

It was then that Joaquin remembered something "Lucky wait!"

The boy climbed out of the car, almost tripping as he tried to pull something out of his pocket as well. Lucky turned to Sam with a curt nod "I'll be right in…"

As Sam left them to it Lucky's face dropped even further if possible as he handed the brunette the pill bottle "You dropped these outside the Wyrm."

Panic flooded through her, did he know? Had he told? "Oh thanks, migraines…"

"I Googled them."

"Oh."

The silence resonated through the wind like a bomb in a quiet city.

"Did you tell anyone?"

"It's your business." An actual smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she slowly threw her arms around his waist "thank you."

"You're welcome… Clover!"

In naught-point-six seconds she went from hugging Joaquin to punching him in the arm "don't fucking call me that."

"It's your name."

"A family name and it makes me sound like some old fucking cat lady!"

"and Lucky sounds like a stripper with too much body glitter."

"Shut up! I didn't pick that either." she laughed, a real laugh, it was small, but it was real.

"You going to be alright?"

"I'm Clover Eleanor March. Like a little heartbreak is going to slow me down." Lucky leaned on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek before heading inside with a lingering glance over his shoulder to FP in the truck.

"Lucky, what the hell is going on?" Wayne looked at his daughter more than a little bewildered as Sarah came out of the kitchen with a concerned look on her face, Sam sat on the sofa looking far too uncomfortable "Kimberly came back and just packed up her things, crying her eyes out. What. Happened?"

"Wayne, calm down, can't you see she's upset…"

"No, Sarah… you want to know dad, fine. I just found out that the night I od'ed, when I was lying in that fucking hospital bed dying… Kimmy was fucking Jake. How fucked up is that? Hilarious really, I mean it's almost like he gave me the drugs just to get me out the way so he could stick his dick in _her_." The tears came back and she just couldn't stop, how could they have done this to her? Jake she got… maybe not at the time but looking back, she got it… but Kimmy.

"What? Oh my god sweetie…" Sarah ran to her stepdaughter's side, Wayne stood frozen; processing what she just said, letting every word sink in.

" _Jake_ , gave you the drugs?"

Lucky locked eyes with her father and sneered through her tears "yeah, yeah prince fucking charming almost killed me. So come on, tell me how fucking stupid I am for protecting him, for being his little bitch, for…"

Wayne and his perfect suit flew across the room, arms wrapping tight around his little girl, squeezing her slightly as he muttered into her chestnut curls "it's okay baby, it's okay."

"Daddy I'm so fucking stupid!" she cried into his chest as Sam looked on in shock, she'd never really seen Mr. March show much affection before, not like this anyway. Sarah bit back a sad smile at the scene.

Moving back just to cup his daughters supple, wet cheeks Wayne looked her dead in the eye "you listen to me; There's not a stupid thing about you. You're the bravest person I've ever known and that idiot is lucky to even be breathing. "

"Thanks dad." her smile was weak as he pulled her back into the safety of his chest before speaking with a kiss of her brow "Hey, how about I head to Pop's get us all some take out, your brother will be back soon, we can have an um, what's it called, binge watch."

Wayne watched as a small sparkle come to her precious baby blues "Saw; all seven?"

"Whatever you want princess." He hadn't called her that since she was little, saved it for special occasions but she was smiling and already half up the stairs to grab her beloved rabbit onesie and some fluffy blankets.

"Well, you handled that perfectly. I get started on some brownies." Sarah smiled with a peck on her husband's cheek before he headed out the door.

The summer sky had faded into the cool black as Wayne climbed into his car, glancing back to his house he saw Lucky through her bedroom window, her smile didn't reach her eyes the way it normally did as Sam fussed over her, forcing her into a bear hug. Wayne's knuckles whitened as she fell out of view, a flash of that night, her lying there so pale, so still, hooked up to all those tubes, fighting for every breath.

"AAAHHHHH!" he screamed into the night, fists smashing against the wheel and dash without any illusion of control.

He stared ahead into the night as rage and despair pumped mercilessly through his veins, his baby girl, he almost lost her… his little, four leaf Clover.

Adam had gone nuts when he came home, even when Sam had calmly explained everything to him as best she could, not that her being calm helped judging by the fist sized hole in the living room wall.

Lucky was stood in front of her bedroom mirror, the bunny suit made her look too young, too innocent, but she loved it none the less. The onesie was unzipped at the front, showing off her old Clash tee as a light knock echoed through the quiet room "come in."

Adam, his hand wrapped in slightly bloody bandages, walked in. she could see him in the mirror, staring at her a little like she might break, that is until she realized he wasn't staring at her, not really.

Lucky rushed to pull of the zip of her suit and glared "What the fuck are you staring at?"

Normally she'd get a snarky, mean come back, but Adam's green eyes were almost like stone, his jaw locked "I'll kill him. It's his entire fault, everything he's done to you… and Kimmy, I'm not opposed to killing a woman."

"They ain't worth it, and I've done my quota of crying for those fuckers."

Lucky shifted uncomfortably under his stare "I should have protected you."

Her laughter came without reason to the blonde boy's ears "Seriously? Come on man, since when have I ever needed any fucker to protect me?"

"True…" Adam smiled as the sound of the front door opening echoed through the house, the sweet, savory smell of greasy goodness drifted up the stairs.

"Thank god I'm starving!" Lucky went to walk past Adam until he gripped her arm lightly, opal green meeting diamond blue as he spoke "you don't have to be ashamed you know, that scar… it just means you survived."

It took her a second to breathe, ever since she woke up and saw it; the long, diagonal angry red mark that had been sliced into her perfect porcelain stomach, all she saw was how she fucked up, how she almost died, how she was stuck taking those stupid pills for the rest of her life and what for?

A quick escape?

A light buzz?

An easy high?

It was all so… ugly.

Lucky just slapped on her best smile with a shrug "Yeah, I survived, but hey kidney transplant ain't exactly the prettiest thing in the world. Now you coming or not because if not I'm taking your fries!"

He couldn't help but laugh and follow her down, the food did smell good.

"Hey, Sweetie." Wayne smiled as he and Sarah stood plating up the vast array of takeout that was littering the kitchen "Hey yourself, what did you order the whole menu? And since when did Pop's do dumplings?"

"I stopped by a few places, had to go over to the southside for the Chinese and Mexican. I wasn't too sure what you'd want. Oh, and I picked you up some of those soda's you like." Lucky popped a fry into her mouth, almost bouncing on the spot as she kissed her father's cheek, snatching up a soda "you are the best dad in the world."

"Remember that the next time you two have an argument." Sarah laughed; putting out the brownies she'd made just for Lucky, after all, what couldn't baked goods cure.

"I make no promises." Lucky took a plate and head over to the sofa, falling into the cushions beside Sam who was already stuffing her face.

Wayne watched her for a second before he noticed it, the dark, thick sheen of red smeared across the cuff of his shirt "Wayne, honey so you want to put in the first disk…"

He quickly rolled up his sleeves, hiding the blood stain and smiled as he strolled into the happy family setting "So who's ready for some gory fun?"

I am so, so sorry for the lateness of this chapter but I've had a rough time lately then my laptop started playing silly buggers with me. Anyway, I hope you all like it and remember to tell me what you think!


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